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Anti-Hamas activist arrested after waving banana during London protest
The Telegraph (via Yahoo) ^ | May 10, 2024 | Patrick Sawer

Posted on 05/11/2024 10:07:30 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo

A prominent anti-Hamas activist was arrested for racism after eating a banana during a pro-Palestine protest.

Niyak Ghorbani was accused of making a racist gesture with the banana while standing with counter protesters in central London last Saturday.

The 38-year-old Iranian dissident, who has become a familiar figure for holding a “Hamas Are Terrorists” banner at counter protests, denies he was being racist and insists he was simply eating the fruit.

He was referencing recent events on American campuses in which bananas were used to taunt pro-Palestinian protesters.

Mr Gohrbani was handcuffed and led away by five officers after pro-Palestine protesters outside Barclays Bank in Tottenham Court Road complained to police.

Footage from last Saturday’s incident showed Mr Ghorbani eating a banana and later waving another one in the air alongside his England flag. At one stage tensions erupt after he offers the uneaten banana to a protester wearing a Palestinian scarf around his face.

Separate footage shows an officer taking the flag from Mr Ghorbani and the banana being trodden underfoot as he is led away.

Mr Ghorbani told The Telegraph: “I was holding my Hamas Are Terrorists banner and when the marchers tried to cover it with flags to hide it I got out my England flag and flew that.

“At the same time I got one of my two bananas and started eating it. I didn’t make any racist gestures or insults. I was just standing there eating a banana but somebody must have complained about me being racist.”

(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: bananas; britain; hamas; london; protest
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1 posted on 05/11/2024 10:07:30 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: Mr. Mojo
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2 posted on 05/11/2024 10:09:14 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (It's not "Quiet Quitting" -- it's "Going Galt".)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Perhaps he thought the banana would give him some appeal


3 posted on 05/11/2024 10:11:32 AM PDT by chajin ("There is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12)
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To: Mr. Mojo

England: From Winston Churchill... to woke insanity.


4 posted on 05/11/2024 10:15:02 AM PDT by Signalman (I am not a snob. Ask anyone who matters.)
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To: Mr. Mojo

What is a racist gesture with a banana? Is this like the condemnation of the truck driver for a “racist hand sign” when he wasn’t making any sign at all?

So there it is. Now anything at all can be called racist and you can be fired or arrested for doing nothing.


5 posted on 05/11/2024 10:15:07 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Delusionary people should not be given power over normal people.)
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To: Mr. Mojo

If this mindset creeps into the US (it’s here, I know), I can see militias becoming more socially acceptable.


6 posted on 05/11/2024 10:18:38 AM PDT by NavyShoe
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To: I want the USA back
What is a racist gesture with a banana?

In Europe, soccer fans will throw bananas at African players.

7 posted on 05/11/2024 10:18:49 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: Mr. Mojo

Brown man eats banana in middle of brown protesters while going against the narrative - he’s a raciss, silence him!

The bananas at the protest in the US weren’t racist either - it was because one of the Hamas supporters supposedly had a banana allergy and demanded nobody eat bananas while he was protesting.


8 posted on 05/11/2024 10:26:38 AM PDT by Skywise
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To: Mr. Mojo

Well, when you wave your banana in public, you should really expect to be arrested.

Never mind.


9 posted on 05/11/2024 10:32:17 AM PDT by The Antiyuppie (When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Talk about ridiculous.

Meanwhile Hamas protesters have created havoc, destroying property and not allowing Jewish students to go to class and fearing for their lives and the colleges and universities have let them go, and had no problem with it all this time.


10 posted on 05/11/2024 10:39:33 AM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: Skywise

Brown man eats banana in middle of brown protesters...


Don’t believe that Persians consider themselves ‘brown’. But now I know that in Britain, at least, one may not display bananas (or the flag of England) in front of parading terrorist supporters.


11 posted on 05/11/2024 11:05:13 AM PDT by hanamizu ( )
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To: MinorityRepublican

Maybe they though the players were hungry..


12 posted on 05/11/2024 11:11:54 AM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: Mr. Mojo

DETECTIVE FOSTER: Yeah, and we’re not gonna fall for a banana in the tailpipe.

AXEL FOLEY: You’re not gonna fall for the banana in the tailpipe? It should be more natural, brother. It should flow out, like this: “Look, man, I ain’t fallin’ for no banana in my tailpipe!” See, that’s more natural for us. You been hanging out with this dude too long.


13 posted on 05/11/2024 11:18:17 AM PDT by FoxInSocks ("Hope is not a course of action." — M. O'Neal, USMC)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Limeys have gone full female chimpanzee show us your ass for Muslims.


14 posted on 05/11/2024 11:37:51 AM PDT by A strike (There is no tyranny that cannot be justified by 'climate change')
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To: The Antiyuppie

Ha.

I was about to say in this country someone could up a banana in front of a Trump lawfare persecution court building and say “...and to the Republic for which it stands.”🍌


15 posted on 05/11/2024 11:51:25 AM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls.)
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To: Mr. Mojo

In my best Mr Burns voice, with fingertips tapping; “exxxcelent!”

When does this start trending in the US?


16 posted on 05/11/2024 11:57:43 AM PDT by SheepWhisperer (Get involved with, or start a home fellowship group. It will be the final church. ACTS 2:42-47)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Sounds like the state is acknowledging that the pro-Hamas morons are also monkeys.


17 posted on 05/11/2024 12:10:33 PM PDT by DPMD (ua)
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To: Mr. Mojo

I’m curious about so many things in this piece: racist gesture with a banana? What is actually racist about bananas in general, especially if you are eating it? Why is he “anti hamas” and the other side is pro Palestine? Based on that they should be pro hamas. WTH are the police doing involving themselves with stoopid hearsay complaints about any gesture someone may or may not have made, don’t they have better things to do? What a waste of time and resources. Banana republic.


18 posted on 05/11/2024 12:13:50 PM PDT by small farm girl (My pronouns are who and cares)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Did the terrorists chimp out at the sight of the nanner?


19 posted on 05/11/2024 12:45:46 PM PDT by Islander7 (There is no septic system so vile, so filthy, the left won't drink from to further their agenda.)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Well, England the US and most European nations are turning into banana republics, so maybe that is the problem.


20 posted on 05/11/2024 1:13:54 PM PDT by csn vinnie
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