Anas Sarwar confronted by pro-Palestinian protesters during speech

Pro-Palestinian protesters have disrupted an event by Scottish Labour.

Party leader Anas Sarwar was speaking at an event at Glasgow Caledonian University on Monday ahead of MSPs returning to the Scottish Parliament this week.

While the Scottish Labour leader was outlining how his party would deliver a government that stood with the “hard-working majority of Scots”, protesters holding Palestine flags began chanting “Free Palestine” and “call it genocide”.

Minutes into his speech, Sarwar was confronted by one protester who walked into the room and asked why he “wouldn’t use the word genocide”.

The demonstrator asked whether the Scottish Labour leader had “told your party leader (Sir Keir Starmer) there’s a genocide happening in Gaza?”

Sarwar responded by saying: “I believe there is a genocide happening in Gaza, I believe Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal.”

When asked about Palestine following the speech, Sarwar added: “I can understand why people are angry, why they’re frustrated, and why what they see on their television screens and social media screens would raise them to despair and a sense of hopelessness, and they feel as if they have to express that anger and frustration.

“I’ll always support people to do safe and peaceful protest. But let’s be really clear who the victims are here and who the perpetrators are here.

“The victims here who we should be focusing on are the children of Gaza who are being starved deliberately by an Israeli government that is out of control. The population is being collectively punished because the abhorrent actions by Hamas, a terrorist organisation.

“The perpetrators here, therefore, are Hamas for their actions on October 7, but also (Israeli prime minister) Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in clear breach of international law, clearly has no desire for peace and is only interested in staying in power and staying out of jail rather than doing the right thing for his population.”

Addressing the Labour Government in Westminster’s actions regarding the ongoing conflict, Sarwar said change would require “global pressure.”

He said: “I welcome some of the action by a UK Labour Government, and I think it’s not about giving people credit because that war still continues, and ultimately we need the war to end again.

“If you look at the actions of our incoming UK Labour Government, we reinstated UNRWA, the humanitarian agency, ended the block the UK Government had on both the ICC and the ICJ, sanctioned individual ministers in the Israeli government, have been clear that those that are acting in the West Bank as settlers are terrorising that population and should be treated as such, and will put scrutiny on Benjamin Netanyahu, that’s why there’s been the ending of arms sales.

“And of course, the recognition of a Palestinian state that will happen before the UN General Assembly next month.”

Sarwar voiced his support for the immediate recognition of the state of Palestine last month, where he also called for an immediate ceasefire.

He described the scenes “mass starvation, indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians, and the destruction of infrastructure” in Gaza as “intolerable, unjustifiable and heartbreaking”.

Adding: “We need the free flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, we need to see the end of illegal occupation and the pathway to a two-state solution.”

In July, dozens of 21 Scottish Labour MSPs, including deputy leader Jackie Baillie, signed a statement urging the prime minister to recognise Palestine.