A 72-YEAR-OLD human rights activist has been arrested in Belfast during a pro-Palestine protest.
Sue Pentel, who is a leading member of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), was arrested on Saturday morning outside Barclays Bank in Castle Place where the protest was taking place.
A video circulating online shows Ms Pentel, who is Jewish, being arrested for criminal damage and being forced into the back of a police van by two police officers. A second woman, who is in her fifties, was also arrested.
A spokesperson for IPSC Belfast said Ms Pentel is currently being held at Musgrave Police Station "on the charge of criminal damage for putting a small sticker on a cash machine".
"Belfast IPSC supports the international calls for the boycott of companies which help to fund and arm Israel in its brutal campaign against the people of Palestine.
Sue Pentel being forced into the back of the police van
"The IPSC is shocked by the PSNI treatment of a lifelong anti-racist activist who was arrested for standing up to protect international human rights and law."
West Belfast MLA Pat Sheehan hit out at the arrest of Sue Pentel.
The Sinn Fein man said: “It is disgraceful that Sue Pentel, an elderly Jewish woman who has consistently and bravely campaigned for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, has been arrested by the PSNI.
“Highlighting the genocidal, inhumane slaughter of defenceless civilians, and those who enable it, is not a crime.
“I send solidarity to Sue and the entire Palestine solidarity campaign, on behalf of Sinn Féin.
“We will be raising our concerns directly with the PSNI.”
A spokesperson for the PSNI said: "Police received a report relating to a protest in the Castle Place area of Belfast city centre on Saturday morning, 24th May. Officers attended and two people have been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.
"The women – one aged in her 70s and the other in her 50s – are in custody, assisting with police enquiries at this time."
