Riot police in the British city of Manchester have had their hands full this summer trying to keep people safe when they shop at the Israeli-owned Kedem Cosmetics shop on King Street.
Products from Caesarea, a town located along the Mediterranean coast, are sold in the shop, along with Dead Sea products from Israel.
“This shop has been under siege for weeks from pro-Palestinian protesters in a smart part of Manchester’s shopping area. Things have got ugly,” a source told TheJewishPress.com on condition of anonymity.
The shop has been the focal point of a campaign to denounce Israel over its counter terror Operation Protective Edge, which started last month to silence the incessant rocket fire raining down on southern Israeli civilians.
Pro-‘Palestine’ demonstrators – some of whom could easily be called rioters – have abused and shoved the store’s staff. Others block customers from entering the shop, a source said. At least one “protester” was arrested last month on charges of disturbing the public order, according to the Manchester Evening News. Riot police were required to maintain order on several occasions.
A counter protest group also appeared to support Israel in front of the shop, a British-registered company.
A protester from ‘Palestine Solidarity,’ John Nicholson of Longsight, told MEN he had been demonstrating in front of the shop for ‘six days running to try and close down Kedem, a shop selling Israeli goods.”
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police told MEN, meanwhile, that police were present to maintain “lawful and peaceful protest” but that there had been “no reports of any serious disorder” and that protests had “passed peacefully.”