Brighton boycott protesters descend on Waitrose

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Waitrose boycott action 1Sixteen activists held a supermarket invasion today at Waitrose in Brighton to protest at their continued sale of fruit, vegetables and herbs from illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank.

Waitrose boycott action 4This supermarket group has consistently refused to meet to discuss the issue, unlike some other supermarket chains which have stopped selling settlement produce.

Waitrose ActionWe are therefore increasing the pressure on Waitrose to seriously reconsider their sale of goods from Israel, and illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. We emptied their shelves of peppers, dates, herbs and other Israeli produce, loading trolley after trolley. Then unfurled banners and held an impromptu demonstration around the shop to ensure that managers and shoppers alike knew why we were demanding that Waitrose stop selling Israeli goods.

We also attempted to deliver a letter to the manager, asking them to reconsider their sale of Israeli goods, and highlighting the new guidelines issued by the government the day before on the labelling of settlement goods.

The guideance makes it clear that selling settlement goods under the label 'Israeli' is illegal, and recommends that West Bank produce should be clearly labelled either 'settlement produce' or 'Palestinian produce'.

While we welcome this government directive, we believe that the import and sale of goods from illegal settlements in the West Bank to the EU should be totally banned, and moreover that produce from the Israeli apartheid state should be boycotted.