Pro-Palestinian protesters ‘intimidating' Labour MP
A Labour MP has claimed he is being threatened by a group of pro-Palestinian activists 'charging' him with genocide.
Luke Charters, the MP for York Outer, said he had become a target in his home town for masked protesters using increasingly intimidating methods to pressure him over the war in Gaza.
The MP said activists with megaphones and posters attempted to block entry to his office over the weekend, scaring away his constituents.
He also claimed a group of protesters chanting 'Labour, Labour, genocide' threw a can of baked beans at him at York's Pride parade earlier this month.
In March, he found scratches on his car after he was targeted by activists following a local Labour conference.
Police have investigated all three incidents, according to The Times, but two were dropped over evidential problems.
It comes after a new report revealed that half of MPs feel unsafe because of threats made from the public.
Mr Charters, who was first elected to the Commons last year, said he had been forced to explain the string of 'serious and unsettling' events to his pregnant wife, who is due to give birth next week.
He told The Times: 'I'm trying to support Beth as much as I can but instead I'm forced to explain what are really serious and unsettling incidents that lead to emergency responses to protect my safety.
'I'm a father first and an MP second… no father should have to go through that.'
'Growing intensity'
He said there had been a 'growing intensity' to the tactics, with any attempt at peaceful protest having 'crossed a line'.
But he said the activists had failed to change his mind on Gaza, and insisted he would not be deterred from carrying out his duties as an MP.
Mr Charters has supported the Government's position on the conflict, backing the decision to suspend talks on a trade deal with Israel last month.
At the time, he said it was 'clear' that the situation in Gaza 'must not continue for a moment longer', and described the level of suffering as 'utterly intolerable'.
Sir Keir Starmer has taken an increasingly hard stance on the war, sanctioning two Israeli ministers in a significant escalation last week.
But he has come under sustained pressure to go further, with MPs urging him to recognise Palestine as a state and suspend all arms exports to Israel.
Reflecting on the protests, Mr Charters said: 'I'm not going to stop. I'm going to keep doing face-to-face surgeries.
'They're trying to disrupt what is quite a fundamental part of an MP's job – to meet their constituents and try to listen and stand up for them.
'I grew up in York. I am bringing my family up here, and I've been elected to serve here. I know this is not what 99.99 per cent of my constituents are.
'If these people think this is going to deter me, they're wrong. I've got an even stronger resolve to work harder for my constituents. And, in fact, it doesn't change my views about Gaza as well.'
Mr Charters is calling for a change in the law to ban protests in and around MPs' surgeries, some of which have been targeted by activists campaigning against the war in Gaza.
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