Pro-Palestine protesters to picket Cardiff Lidl store

Emily Price

Pro-Palestine protesters will picket a Lidl store in Cardiff today (11 April) in an effort to persuade the supermarket giant to boycott Israeli goods.

Activists from the group Apartheid Free Zone Cardiff plan to gather outside the Cathays store at 11am for a rally which has been dubbed the ‘People’s Inspection’.

It comes amid growing calls for boycotts of companies that sell Israeli goods.

The latest Gaza health authority data revealed that at least 12,300 children have died in the conflict in the last four months.

Lidl’s own brand Lupilu baby wipes are made in Ashdod, Israel.

The supermarket says the majority of baby wipes sourced by Lidl GB come from a British supplier and are made in Britain.

Demonstrators will hand over a letter to the supermarket asking them to sell alternative products.

Pressure

Sharifah Khirani, one of the founders of Apartheid Free Zone Cardiff said: “This movement is growing in Cardiff and globally. People are demanding ethically sourced products either for environmental issues and/or cruelty free concerns.

“However, the issue with what we’re doing today and the urgency that we are demanding is due to the cost of human lives attached to the complicity of Israel to genocide and apartheid. There needs to be accountability and greater pressure to stop them.

“The boycott, divestment and sanctions movement was key to the ending of apartheid in South Africa, and this is what we hope to do here also. This is a humanitarian concern.

“So whatever it takes ‘ brick by brick, wall by wall, Israeli Apartheid has to fall’. We will not stop until the killing stops, the occupation ends, and Palestinians are able to return to their homeland.”

Other western corporations including Starbucks and Coca Cola have also seen boycotts and demonstrations against them by anti-Israeli campaigners.

McDonalds missed a key sales target after the fast food chain announced it had given away thousands of free meals to members of the Israeli military.

Apartheid Free Zone Cardiff member, Bethan Sayed said: “We can all make a difference, raise our voices, hold our heads high in campaigning against the actions of Israel in Palestine.

“We need to boycott Israeli goods, and ensure that they realise that the indiscriminate bombing cannot continue, that they must adhere to International laws, and that Palestinian rights must be respected.”

A Lidl spokesperson said: “As an inclusive organisation we advocate respect and diversity, and the companies of the Schwarz Group reject all forms of violence.”