Pro-Palestine protesters bring Czech foreign minister’s UCL speech to abrupt end

Jan Lipavsky forced to abandon talk on Ukraine war amid barrage of chants and accusations of ‘genocide’

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The Czech foreign minister was forced to cut short a speech on the war in Ukraine at University College London after he was drowned out by pro-Palestine protesters.
Jan Lipavsky was talking about the perils of Russia’s war in Ukraine on Friday before a handful of demonstrators disrupted his speech.
The speech was organised by the Places, Identities and Memories (PIMs) research centre, London’s Czech Embassy and the School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies Society.
Protesters were seen standing up and clapping in the room where Mr Lipavsky addressed the attendees and repeatedly shouted “free Palestine”, “from river to the sea” and accusing him of “genocide”.
Those attending the event told the protesters to stop so they could hear the rest of Mr Lipavsky’s speech.
The Czech Republic is a public supporter of Israel and last month blocked a joint European Union statement that called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and condemned the number of civilians killed in Lebanon.
The protest lasted for around 15 minutes and Mr Lipavsky eventually abandoned plans to finish his speech and conduct a question and answer session at UCL.
“Following the recommendation by the security forces, I left the university premises. I was ready to finish my lecture and answer questions in the discussion,” he said in a statement.
A UCL spokesman said: “We are deeply disappointed that a public talk by the Czech minister of foreign affairs at UCL was disrupted by a small group of protestors and had to end early.
“The protest lasted around 15 minutes and our security teams managed the situation appropriately. The police were also called due to the high-profile nature of the speaker.
“We are looking into what happened and will take appropriate action as necessary.”
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