Pro-Palestine protesters bring Czech foreign minister’s UCL speech to abrupt end

From the Telegraph

The Czech foreign minister was forced to cut short a speech on the war in Ukraine at University College London after he was drowned out by pro-Palestine protesters.

Jan Lipavsky was talking about the perils of Russia’s war in Ukraine on Friday before a handful of demonstrators disrupted his speech.

The speech was organised by the Places, Identities and Memories (PIMs) research centre, London’s Czech Embassy and the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies Society.

Protesters were seen standing up and clapping in the room where Mr Lipavsky addressed the attendees and repeatedly shouted “free Palestine”, “from river to the sea” and accusing him of “genocide”.

The Czech Republic is a public supporter of Israel and last month blocked a joint European Union statement that called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and condemned the number of civilians killed in Lebanon.

The protest lasted for around 15 minutes and Mr Lipavsky eventually abandoned plans to finish his speech and conduct a question and answer session at UCL.

“Following the recommendation by the security forces, I left the university premises. I was ready to finish my lecture and answer questions in the discussion,” he said in a statement.