The London Phoenix Cinema was vandalized Thursday morning ahead of a screening of a Supernova festival massacre documentary, the Metropolitan Police and a Jewish security organization said.
The Met said police responded to reports of criminal damage at the cinema, and had launched an investigation into the incident as a potential hate crime.
The Community Security Trust said it was “appalled by the disgraceful graffiti on the Phoenix Cinema today.”
Protests led by Palestine Solidarity Campaign Brixton were set to be held at the cinema just before the Thursday evening private screening of Supernova: The Music Festival Massacre as part of the Seret International Israeli Film Festival.
Protests at the venue of the screening
“Police had already been made aware of protests expected at the venue,” said the Met. “Officers will be there to make sure those attending can protest safely whilst at the same time minimizing serious disruption to the community.”
The Phoneix Cinema's response
By Thursday, a petition urging law enforcement to disallow the protests had garnered 10,000 signatures. The petition started by London Jewish community members on Monday said “The Jewish community in this area seeks to continue living in peace, free from the threat of external provocations and disturbances.”
PSC Brixton said the film festival was “part of a broader artwashing strategy by the Israeli settler-colonial apartheid state that uses culture to whitewash and cover up its crimes against the Palestinian people,” and that the screening was being held against the wishes of members, staff, and patrons.
The activists said that they were holding the protest after a joint letter issued last Tuesday by Artists for Palestine UK to cinemas hosting Seret screenings.
“We ask you to stand on the side of humanity, against apartheid and genocide, by canceling your Israel-sponsored film screenings and committing to not host the UK-Israeli Film Festival in future,” said the letter addressed to trustees of the Phoenix Cinema, Everyman Cinemas Hampstead and Barnet, and JW3.
The group said the Picturehouse and Curzon cinemas had refused to host the festival.