A transgender refugee in London has been charged after carrying around a sign that read “Israel burn in hell” during a pro-Palestine rally. The individual claimed that they did not even know what the placard said because it was written in English.
The Telegraph reported that Laura Davis, 22, pleaded guilty to a charge of causing racially, religiously aggravated harassment, distress or alarm by words or writing when she showed up to Westminster magistrates court in London on Friday.
David pleaded guilty to the charges through an Arab interpreter, as she apparently cannot speak English.
Davis, who is from north London, was spotted carrying around the placard with the inflammatory remark on October 28, in response to the war that had broken out between Israel and Hamas.
The charge against Davis said she carried a sign that was “threatening or abusive in the hearing of sight of a person likely to have caused harassment, alarm or distress and the offence was racially aggravated.”
However, Davis attempted to justify her actions by saying she picked the sign up from a bus stop and did not know what it said.
The authorities said Davis had been part of a protest group that was caught on CCTV displaying a sign that read “FREE PALESTINE!! ISRAEL BURN IN HELL,” according to the Evening Standard.
Nicholas Tarry — who is the chairman of the magistrates’ bench — told Davis that the message scrawled on the sign was “not an appropriate thing to be waving; it’s violent language about another country and it is not allowed.” The report noted Davis left Saudi Arabia in December 2021 because she was apparently not accepted as a transgender person.
As a result, Davis was granted asylum by the UK in the summer.
Tarry said that Davis would have to pay £225 for the offense, which amounts to around $286 USD. “You have come to this country for tolerance,” Tarry told Davis, adding that “[y]ou deserve tolerance and other people do as well. You must show other people the tolerance you expect them to show you. Do you understand?”
Davis reportedly gestured that she understood.
Nicola White, tasked with defending Davis, said “[s]he has expressed deep remorse and regret in that moment in picking up that sign that she did not seek clarification from another Arabic-speaking member of the protest (about its meaning).”
“She has been abandoned by her family because of the way she lives.”
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