Police arrest 57 anti-Israel protesters at South Africa store

Demonstrators outside Johannesburg Woolworths maintain they were completely peaceful

Johannesburg police said they arrested 57 people at an anti-Israel protest outside a Woolworths department store Saturday.

“They went to Woolies and started disturbing customers inside the shop,” Constable Thabo Malatji told the South African Press Agency, adding that the protesters were charged with public disturbance.

Protest organizer Tasneem Essop contended that the protest was completely peaceful.

Woolworths maintained that it had called police as a precaution, citing concern for the safety of its customers.

“We have no choice but to contact the local authorities when the safety of our customers and employees is threatened,” Woolworths said in a statement. “The police monitored the protests today and took action when they felt protesters violated the law. Woolworths did not arrest any protesters nor lay any charges.”

Meanwhile, BDS South Africa distanced itself from an incident last week in which members of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) Western Cape branch placed a pig’s head at a Woolworths.

“BDS is not involved or implicated at all,” BDS member Sumaya Omar told South African IOL News.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has held more than 40 protests at Woolworths stores throughout the country in recent weeks demanding that they stop selling Israeli products. Woolworths, for its part, has said it may take the BDS lobby to court, alleging that protesters have threatened its staff and customers.

It is not known if the protests have hurt Woolworths’s sales.

The South African BDS movement reportedly plans to continue to pressure on the company, Woolworths Holdings Limited, until its annual general meeting on November 26.

Woolworths officials have expressed puzzlement over being targeted by BDS, asserting that “more than 95 percent of our food is sourced locally [and] the government continues to authorize trade with Israel.”

BDS activist Mohammed Desai told the South African publication The Times that the movement knows there are other companies in South Africa with ties to Israel, but said: “For now, Woolworths is our target. They are making a grave mistake by ignoring us and if we go to all those retailers our campaign will be diluted.”

In South Africa, BDS has received support from the African National Congress’ Youth League, and the Times reported that the movement has lobbied influential ANC supporters to put pressure on one of Woolworths’s largest shareholders, the Government Employees Pension Fund, which holds 17.2 percent of the shares.

Woolworths, one of the largest companies in South Africa, is not related to the US chain F. W. Woolworth Company.

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