More than 100 people staged a protest in Aberdeen over the BBC’s coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict today.
Protesters turned up at the car park of the corporation’s city office, accusing the broadcaster of pro-Israeli coverage.
Imam Ibrahim, the leader of the Aberdeen Mosque and Islamic Centre, led the crowd as they chanted “BBC, shame on you” and “Israel, shame on you”, as well as “Free Palestine”.
Dozens of protesters, including members of the local Moslem community and representatives of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, waved “Free Palestine” banners and flags at passersby.
Caroline Hjazi, 33, said the BBC’s coverage of the conflict had been “biased” in favour of Israel.
She said: “We are here to protest against the BBC and their consistent and systematic policy of reporting news in Palestine devoid of any context and any detail of the suffering that the Palestinians are going through.
“There’s almost a policy where they don’t report the occupation, don’t report the blockade.
“The BBC does not represent the views of the people who are here out on the streets expressing their outrage.
“Initiatives such as these might put pressure on their BBC and make them amend the way they report the news.”
The protesters read out the names of almost 300 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip before holding a minute’s silence for the dead.
Imam Ibrahim used a loudspeaker to rally the protesters and asked the BBC to bring a camera crew down to cover the protest for the 6.30pm bulletin.
He was later seen speaking to BBC Scotland’s head of news in Aberdeen, Sandy Bremner.
The corporation yesterday defended its commitment to impartiality.
A spokeswoman said: “BBC News reports widely and extensively across TV, radio and online, on many different aspects of this ongoing and complex conflict.
“Our role is to explain what is happening and why, and we endeavour to reflect a range of voices, amid deeply held views.
“We are committed to continuing to report and analyse sometimes fast moving events in an accurate, fair and balanced way.”