Cops inGlasgow seized a “f**k the police” tote bag as “evidence” from the window of queer, anarchist Jewish café, and its founders are now facing criminal charges.

Pink Peacock is ‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏‏a queer, Jewish, anarchist, pay-what-you-can café on Glasgow’s Victoria Road, which declares that everyone is welcome “except cops andTERFs“.

The café is yet to even open its doors to the public, but has already been in trouble with local police after displaying a “f**k the police” tote bag in its window.

Pink Peacock’s founders, Morgan Holleb and Joe Isaac, toldVashti Media that they first became aware of the problem when they were visited at home by police officers on Monday (14 June).

While having lunch, they were interrupted by a knock on the door, and police officers told them they were being charged with “breach of the peace”.

Holleb, who is non-binary and uses he/ him pronouns, said he believes that “what they were really doing was trying to intimidate us”.

Police then told them that they would need to escort them to the café to seize the tote bag as “evidence”.

Holleb said he though: “Okay, we’ll make a spectacle out of it then.”

In a video posted to social media, Holleb can be seen walking to the café with police, before asking them to wait outside while he retrieved the tote bag.

As soon as the police officer bagged it as evidence, Holleb taped another to the window.

When the officers protested, Holleb flipped the bag around. Although the police were apparently unaware, the other side of the tote bag was inscribed with the yiddish anarchist slogan “daloy politsey” (down with the police).

update: they came back to seize the tote bag in the window for "evidence", so we filmed it

(part 1)pic.twitter.com/pAJ3zygFuK

— די ראָזעווע פּאַװע pink peacock (@dirozevepave)June 15, 2021

Holleb emphasised that he felt safe to be “sassy back” to police, as Pink Peacock is “a majority-white organisation”, adding: “We don’t have the same vulnerability as other groups.”

As well as the run-in with police, the queer Jewish café has been targeted on two occasions within the last month – once when a man painted over its shop front, and a second time when a window was smashed.

But the community has rallied around them, and their “f**k the police” tote bags are now completely out of stock.

The café noted on Twitter: “If you’re really desperate for a tote, Cathcart police station has some in stock.”

Police Scotland toldPinkNews in a statement: “Police in Glasgow received complaints from the public regarding an item displaying offensive language in the window of premises in the Victoria Road area of Govanhill.

“We can confirm that a 32-year-old [person] has been charged in connection with a breach of the peace and the item has been removed from the premises.”

• Nov 29 2023

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