Moment pro-Palestine protesters shout ‘boycott McDonald’s’ outside Bristol branch as they accuse fast food chain of ‘killing innocent people’ by giving ‘funding to Israel’ – after firm faced backlash for giving free meals to Israeli soldiers

• McDonald’s franchises are often owned locally and operate autonomously 

This is the dramatic moment Palestinian supporters shout ‘boycott McDonald’s’ as they gather outside a branch in Bristol, accusing the fast food chain of ‘killing innocent people’.

The video, posted earlier today, shows a young woman leading chants in support of ‘Free Palestine’, as roughly 20 other people join in with Palestinian flags and placards.

The woman can be heard shouting ‘Boycott McDonald’s’, before repeating, ‘Shame on McDonalds for funding Israel. Who are killing innocent people’.

It comes after the firm faced backlash for providing free meals to Israeli soldiers.

In Israel, a local McDonald’s operator has been offering discounts to soldiers, security forces and others since Hamas’ October 7 assault, according to Israeli authorities. 

McDonald’s Israel has so far given out 100,000 free meals, according to posts on social media.

But many McDonald’s operators in the region quickly distanced themselves from the Israeli operator’s actions. 

This is the dramatic moment Palestinian supporters shout ‘boycott McDonalds’ as they gather outside a branch in Bristol

The video, posted earlier today, shows a young woman leading chants in support of ‘Free Palestine ‘, as roughly 20 other people join in with Palestinian flags and placards

It comes after the firm faced backlash for providing free meals to Israeli soldiers

Franchise groups in Kuwait, Pakistan and other countries issued statements confirming that they did not share ownership with the Israeli franchise. 

Others also noted that they had made financial donations to aid those in Gaza, where more than 5,000 people have been killed since October 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, an organisation controlled by Hamas.

McDonald’s Kuwait said in a statement, also posted on X, that: ‘McDonald’s Kuwait is a 100% locally owned and operated Kuwaiti company, owned by Al Maousherji Catering Company,’ which stands ‘with our brothers and sisters in Palestine, especially in Gaza.’ 

The operator said that the local company had made a $250,000 donation to the Kuwait Red Crescent Society ‘to help with relief efforts in Gaza.’ 

McDonald’s Pakistan also said it has made a donation to help ease the ‘tragic humanitarian crisis in Gaza.’

‘In regard to the news that McDonald’s in Israel was donating meals. We affirm that it was an individual decision on their part,’ McDonald’s franchise in Saudi Arabia also said in a statement. 

‘Neither global McDonald’s nor us nor any other country had a role or relationship with that decision, neither directly nor indirectly.’

McDonald’s is a global chain but its franchises are often owned locally and operate autonomously.

Meanwhile, it comes after other Palestinian supports were caught tearing down posters of Israeli women and children kidnapped by Hamas terrorists – with one smiling to the camera as he walked off. 

The video, filmed last night in London’s Leicester Square, shows two women and a man ripping down the posters before the man notices he is being filmed, pulls down his cap and walks away.

One of the women, wearing a black coat and a long scarf, is told the posters show ‘photos of people kidnapped by terrorists’ and is accused of not caring about ‘human life’. 

It came as sickening photos emerged showing other posters that had been defaced with Hitler moustaches and devil horns. One of the banners on Finchley Road in north London showed the smiling faces of Emma and Yuli Cunio defaced with toothbrush moustaches. On another poster someone had changed Hamas to ‘real men’. 

The video from Leicester Square, shared by Jewish News editor Richard Ferrer at around 10pm, then cuts to another man walking and ripping off the posters one by one. He turns around and smiles at the camera before walking off. 

The Met Police said it had been ‘made aware’ of the footage, adding: ‘Officers will continue to be in the area carrying out reassurance patrols. At this time, no offences have been identified.’

It’s the latest in a string of incidents, with a previous video from Oxford Street showing a woman ripping down a poster of four-year-old Ariel. His kidnapping alongside his months-old baby brother Kfir and their mother Shiri Silberman-Bibas horrified the world. 

*Do you know the people tearing down the posters? Email [email protected]* 

The video, filmed last night in London ‘s Leicester Square, shows two women and a man ripping down the posters of Israeli kidnap victims 

The video cuts to another man walking and ripping off the posters one by one. He turns and smiles at the camera before walking off

The posters – seen here after being torn down – had been put up to raise awareness of the plight of Hamas kidnap victims 

Today sickening photos emerged showing other posters that had been defaced with Hitler moustaches and devil horns. One of the banners showed the smiling faces of Emma and Yuli Cunio which a vandal had defaced with toothbrush moustaches (left) 

The posters had been put up on Finchley Road in north London. On one of them (right) someone had changed Hamas to ‘real men’

Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch today criticised ‘odious people ripping down posters of missing children’ as she said part of the UK’s social contract has been ‘breached’.

She told the Commons: ‘All our citizens have a right to feel secure and at peace in Britain. One of the reasons why we have been able to integrate people from all over the world is because of an unwritten rule that people with roots elsewhere do not play out foreign conflicts on the streets of this country.

‘We owe a duty of care and civility to our neighbours whatever their ethnicity, religion or background. All of us are free to practice our faiths and celebrate our cultures but we must do so in a positive way, consistent with fundamental values that are the bedrock of Britain. I’m afraid to say that in recent days we have seen that social contract being breached.

‘In particular, I believe that the hostility directed towards our Jewish communities, the calls for Jihad, the ostentatious indifference to the victims of terrorism, the aggressive chanting by mobs brandishing placards of hate, and the odious people ripping down posters of missing children, do not reflect our values as a nation.

READ MORE – Hostages could be released in exchange for greater aid and free passage for Hamas leaders and their families in extraordinary plan, report claims 

‘We must all stand firm on the boundaries of acceptable behaviour, particularly in the public space that we all share.’

Asked about the footage of the posters being ripped down, a spokesman for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he could not comment on specific incidents.

But they added: ‘It is right and proper that people want to highlight the hostages that are being held by Hamas and want to make sure the focus of what started this current crisis isn’t lost, which is the attack by Hamas on Israel and the fact there are now around 200 hostages in Gaza.

‘I think it’s right people want to be able to draw attention to that and that’s something that is entirely understandable.’

Hamas terrorists massacred 1,400 Israelis on October 7, with many filming themselves shooting civilians on their bodycams. 

Since then, 5,700 Palestinians have been killed in airstrikes on Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

More footage that emerged on October 20 showed a woman telling people filming her as she tore down banners to ‘f*** off’ while another said ‘go cry’.    

The number of anti-Semitic offences in London has soared by more than 1,353 per cent between October 1 and 18 compared to last year, according to Met Police data. 

A total of 218 anti-Semitic offences were reported in London between October 1 and 18, compared with 15 during the same period in 2022.  

Islamophobic offences during the same period are up 140 per cent, from 42 last year to 101. 

This week Dame Maureen Lipman has joined 210 public figures in condemning the surge of anti-Semitism in the UK – as the actress slammed ‘bleeding heartless liberals’ who fail to criticise attacks on Israel.

The list also includes playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, peer Lord Owen, scientist Professor Richard Dawkins, Countdown presenter Rachel Riley, Tory MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, former spy chief Sir Richard Dearlove and author Simon Sebag Montefiore.

They write: ‘We are a group of concerned British citizens and residents from a wide range of backgrounds and professions who stand in solidarity with British Jews and condemn all forms of anti-Semitism, whether in Britain or elsewhere.’

A woman on Oxford Street clutching a pile of ripped posters showing the innocents taken hostage by Hamas terrorists in Israel on October 7

 The woman said the posters had ‘inaccurate’ information on them 

Criticising the BBC, the signatories say: ‘We ask the media, members of all political parties and everyone in public life to call out Hamas for what it is: a terrorist organisation.’

After a group calling itself Artists for Palestine UK, which included actors Steve Coogan and Tilda Swinton, published a letter accusing Israel of war crimes, Dame Maureen said: ‘These bleeding heartless liberals care so deeply for the Palestinians… that they espouse their cause at the expense of every other oppressed people of the world… Shame. Shame. Shame on every one of you.’

READ MORE – Fury as ITV airs interview with British Palestinian woman on Islamophobia in the UK just days after she described the murder of Jews as a ‘homecoming’

It comes as the immigration minister appeared to suggest that he thought UK visa-holders should be expelled for inciting anti-Semitism even if their conduct falls ‘below the criminal standard’.

Robert Jenrick told the Commons that the process of revoking visas and expelling foreign nationals who spread ‘hate and division’ has already begun ‘in a small number of cases’.

Asked on Times Radio whether someone waving a Palestinian flag at a demonstration could see their visa revoked, the minister replied: ‘No, we believe in freedom of speech.

‘But I disagree with your premise that… somebody who is here as a visitor to the UK has the right to be anti-Semitic, to threaten British communities and can stay unless that is of criminal standard.

‘I think there is conduct which is below the criminal standard but which is wrong, [and] would be accepted as wrong by most reasonable people.

‘If those people are not British citizens, they are just visitors to our country enjoying the privileges of living here, being among fellow British people, then I’m afraid their visas will be revoked and they should leave the country.’

Activists have been putting up posters showing Israelis kidnapped by Hamas in a bid to raise awareness 

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