Several civil society groups across South Africa staged nationwide protests on Tuesday in solidarity with pro-Palestine hunger strikers held in U.K. prisons, calling on the British government to secure their release.
The protests were held outside the British Council offices in Johannesburg, the British Consulate in Cape Town, and the Durban City Hall, where protest leaders handed over their list of demands to officials.
Madison Bannon of the Palestine Solidarity Alliance told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the hunger strikers are on the verge of death, with some going without food for over 60 days.
‘‘They have been held without bail, and they are now really on death’s door,’’ she said.
The hunger strikers have been held for more than a year on accusations of allegedly breaking into Elbit Systems, a U.K. subsidiary of the Israeli defense company, in Bristol and the Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire.
