Around thirty people held a demonstration before the start of stage one of the 2024 Tour of Britain in the Scottish Borders town of Kelso, targeting the Israel-Premier Tech team as they signed on for the race.
More demonstrations are expected later in the Tour of Britain, particularly on stage three on Thursday, when the riders start in Sheffield.
It’s almost a year since Hamas, proscribed as a terrorist organisation in Britain, killed more than one thousand people during an attack in Israel and took 251 hostages. A conflict has been ongoing since then, with the scale of Israel’s resulting military operation in Gaza drawing international condemnation.
Speaking to Cyclingnews, protesters said that they had targeted the event due to team owner Sylvan Adams’ involvement, calling him a “long-time pro-Israel Zionist.”
“It's just terrible that sports organisations are allowing Israel to have free rein just to send their teams over and pretend that everything's fine,” one protester said.
“I think cyclists need to take a look at their ethics as well. You can't separate life from politics. You can't separate sport or culture or anything from what else is going on in the world.”
“Israel-Premier Tech respects everyone’s right to free speech so the protests that are expected at the Tour of Britain do not pose a problem. We are excited to race and continue our strong season,” the team said in a statement.
“We fully respect the right of everyone to express their point of view and protest peacefully,” a British Cycling representative said in a statement.
“We ask that people do so with their own safety and the safety of others in mind, and to refrain from action that could compromise people’s safety.”
“We would like to thank our Local Authority partners and the Police for working with us collaboratively to ensure that we prioritise the safety of riders, spectators and everyone involved in the race.”