More than 80 people demanded that Leyton and Wanstead MP John Cryer back an Israel-Gaza ceasefire outside his constituency office in Leytonstone yesterday

By Marco Marcelline

More than 80 people protested outside Leyton and Wanstead MP John Cryer’s office last night (9th November) and called for him to back a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict.

A group including members from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, people from local mosques, the London Renters Union, queer and Labour activists, as well as the Jewish Bloc for Palestine marched from Leytonstone Station to his office.

Once outside Cryer’s office, the group chanted slogans including: “John Cryer you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” and “Ceasefire now!” as passing motorists honked in support.

Cryer, who is also chair of the parliamentary Labour party has so far supported the Labour Party position advocated by its leader Sir Keir Starmer that a humanitarian pause rather than a ceasefire is the best way to alleviate suffering in Gaza. 

Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy has instead joined over 60 Labour parliamentarians in calling for a ceasefire. At a speech in Parliament on 23rd October, Creasy said she backed a ceasefire “involving all parties including Israel as well as Hamas”.

Ruth Lukan, who was representing the Jewish Bloc, a coalition of Jewish groups that oppose the Israeli occupation, said that it was important as a Jewish person to show support for the Palestinian cause. 

“We [Jewish Bloc] are here because the so-called leaders of our Jewish community aren’t [at Palestine protests]. They have constantly decided that the needs and interests of the Israeli state are more important than looking after the needs of their own community in the UK. They would rather defend the brutal actions of the Israeli state.”

She attacked the idea of humanitarian pauses: “The very idea that you cease bombing people and then hand out bottles of water and blankets before you start bombing them again is an obscenity.”

Ruth added that she was there to mourn all of the victims from the conflict, including the 1,400 Israelis killed by Hamas during the October 7th attacks. 

Constituent Zad El Bacha told the Echo that Cryer’s reluctance to back a ceasefire had “disgusted” her, and added that she would not vote for him until he explicitly supports one. 

Zad added: “It’s the fundamental job as someone who lives a relatively safe life to support people facing genocide”. 

Ray Goodspeed, an executive member of the Leyton and Wanstead Labour Party, said John Cryer’s lack of call for a ceasefire was “disappointing”.

Ray said: “He’s made statements criticising what Israel is doing, and he’s made statements about turning on the electricity…but he’s stopped short of calling for a ceasefire which I find very disappointing. Objectively speaking if you don’t call for a ceasefire then you’re supporting genocide – and he doesn’t intend to do that but that’s what it comes down to.”

He added: “A humanitarian pause means you start [bombing] again. You can’t pause a genocide; you have to stop it.” 

The protest comes amid growing fervour both within and without the Labour Party for a general ceasefire. In recent weeks, two pro-Palestine demonstrations have taken place at Walthamstow Town Square, with an estimated 500 people attending last Sunday (5th November). 

Last month, the Leyton and Wanstead Labour Party voted unanimously in favour of a motion that condemned Hamas and urged Sir Keir and the national party to support the call for an immediate ceasefire.

Meanwhile, four Labour Waltham Forest councillors have signed letters in support of a ceasefire. 

In a statement to the Echo responding to the protest, Cryer said: “I have received over 2,000 Israel and Gaza emails since October 7th – from people who take different views about the attack on Israel and the subsequent actions in Gaza, and I am more than happy for constituents to disagree with me and to tell me I have got it wrong which they sometimes do.

“However, I am writing this in my constituency office where the protest took place last night. There are many people who work here in this building who have nothing to do with me or with politics and may well have felt intimidated by a group of 50 people outside their workplace shouting and chanting.

“I have condemned the attack by Hamas on October 7th which was the biggest murder of Jewish people since 1945. I have also made it clear that the deaths of Palestinian civilians, the cutting off of the means of sustaining life in Gaza is not acceptable and probably breaches international law. I condemn the bombing of hospitals and refugee camps.

“No one in their right mind wants this to continue, but how do you get a ceasefire when the bombs are falling on Gaza, the rockets are falling on Israel and more than 200 are being held hostage? If a ceasefire were to take place it would need both sides to agree – which seems unlikely and for both sides to agree to someone to broker it. Again this is currently unlikely.

“The best chance to save people is to secure cessations in hostilities, to get aid through via a pause.”

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