THREE CHRISTIANS countering the anti-Israel demonstrators have been arrested outside the EcoStream shop but after a police investigation, charges were dropped. The most recent case concerned a Christian woman, a black member of Brighton’s Citycoast Church, who was accused of assault by a pro-Palestinian woman protester.She could not afford a lawyer, so the Jewish community hired a barrister for her. But once the day of her trial came, the plaintiff did not attend court and she was free to go and is determined to continue campaigning.
Protests outside the Israeli company have been an ongoing issue since the shop opened last August. Pro-Israel campaigners, often members of Sussex Friends of Israel (SFI), regularly confront Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and Boycott Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) activists near the shop on Saturday lunch-times.