Don’t Mention The Children
74-year-old Bill Williamson was arrested in Dunoon, Scotland, for reading Michael Rosen’s poem “Don’t Mention the Children” at a pro-Palestine vigil. Police handcuffed the pensioner, locked him in a van, and later reported him to the Procurator Fiscal for “threatening and abusive behaviour.” The poem—which names Palestinian children killed by Israel—has been read at the vigil for two and a half years. The case exposes Britain’s growing crackdown on dissent and the criminalisation of speaking out against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.