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London, UK – An anger at the attack on the Palestinians in Gaza, urged a group of volunteers in the familiar town of Camden in the local council last year to stop investing in companies with relations with Israel.

The petition, led by the Camden Friends of Valestine collection, which occurred by more than 4,200 population, was already of popular activity in one of the most symbolic circles in the country.

During the general elections last year, Care StarmerThe British Prime Minister, holding the Holborn and St. Pancras seat, the stronghold of the Labor Party, which includes most of Camden.

Ultimately, a petition failed to strip the pension funds in the council to achieve its goal.

After a discussion, the Council referred the issue of “responsible investment” to the alleged retirement committee, according to the minutes of the meeting.

Weeks ago, tensions erupted, as the council moved to banners, banners, marks and flags in the meetings of the Council-a procedure that is understood to tame the local movement in support of Palestine because the posters that read phrases such as “stopping the genocide” have already been raised in the city hall.

Sarah, a friend of Camden, from Palestine activists, told Al -Jazeera that this step reflects “non -democratic and authoritarian measures by the Camden Council (which) is designed to protect it from criticism and evading accountability to its residents.”

“This is not the end,” she said. Sara said: “Our solidarity with the people of Palestine has no limits, and we will continue to ask to get rid of the Israeli war machine.”

The Camden Council told Al -Jazeera that although the petitions “must be on matters that greatly affect the town,” the delegations related to the investments of the Council “are not automatically excluded because these things that affect the crystal.”

More than a year ago, Camden Friends of Pervine members met at the Arts and Local Society Center every Thursday to discuss their campaigns and provide new volunteers to their network.

A spokesman for the group claimed that their attempts to interact with the council were met with “severe hostility … whether by contacting the police on the population, and canceling the meetings (or) to close the general exhibition in the council for a period of five months.”

In May last year, the group held a meeting in front of an official building to celebrate Nakba dayThe memory of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, after the closure of the general exhibition.

In October, Fitzrovia News, a local news outlet, stated that when Camden friends of Palestine activists held signs of “stopping genocide” at the general exhibition in a silent protest, the police were called to remove them.

“Delivery of people’s feelings to the national government”

In June 2024, the group organized a week of work aimed at increasing awareness about Israel’s attack on Gaza, which was the most recent of which was killed by more than 50,000 Palestinians.

The last Israel war began on Gaza in October 2023, following an incursion led by Hamas to southern Israel, during which 1139 people were killed and more than 200 captive were taken.

As part of the Gaza Week initiative, speeches were thrown outside the city of Kantic.

Arschi, a volunteer, said that their events often attract anti -causes, including “Islamophobic, a type of rioter that you see in fascist mobilization that dates back to years and years.”

“Although there is resistance, I don’t think it is particularly a greater feeling in society,” I explained.

“People really enjoy being part of it … they return to meetings as much as it is a positive social space in a society I think people are increasingly anxious and deviated.”

But for fear of a violent reaction from some professionals, Sarah and Archi asked the island to withhold their titles.

Without deterrence from the council’s response to the contact, the group joined a London campaign called “Shake the CIV”, which focuses on pushing the councils to get rid of unethical companies.

Paul Bagole, a professor of political sociology at the University of Leeds, told Al -Jazeera that pressure on local councils on global issues is a trend dating back to the eighties.

“There were many local protests to declare councils their areas of nuclear weapons -free areas as a kind of protest against nuclear weapons. Therefore, in many ways, they follow a kind of style similar to other types of protests for several decades,” he explained.

He said that while local councils can express their support for the Palestinians or criticize Israeli policy, there is little “they can do it fundamentally in relation to politics.”

“Often, the consequences are really symbolic. So they are about communicating people’s feelings to the government at the national level. This is another type, if you want, a level or form of political communication,” he said.

About seven miles northeast of Camden, activists in the Forest region in Forrest took their pro -Palestine movement to the local council.

In November 2023, residents of a newly formed forest and accusation of the Free Palestine Group (WFFP) called on the deputy at the time, John Kerir, to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

In 2024, the group launched a massive clouds campaign – and was successful.

In July, the Council announced that it “updates the moral investment policy so that we can strip our pension funds from our companies participating in the arms trade” – to become the first municipality in the UK to agree to get rid of weapons companies that provide weapons in Israel.

“When we launched our logical campaign, our arrival and support greatly. We have a society of hundreds of people who attended a procedure, written to a consultant, throughout the door, and made food for meetings (and) organized awareness sessions … and more than 3,500 people expected us within three months in the past year,”

“The community of people who live, work and study in Forrest was a great supporter. We have built a societal force to challenge bureaucratic violence and fail local politicians on major issues such as withdrawing ethics and naming genocide.”