{"id":566507,"date":"2025-11-13T00:15:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T00:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/566507\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T00:15:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T00:15:38","slug":"pro-palestine-protestors-gatecrash-euro-2028-launch-event-in-london-and-accuse-complicit-uefa-of-having-blood-on-their-hands-amid-calls-to-ban-israel-from-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/566507\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Palestine protestors gatecrash Euro 2028 launch event in London – and accuse ‘complicit’ UEFA of having ‘blood on their hands’ amid calls to ban Israel from tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

By KIERAN GILL, MAIL SPORT REPORTER<\/a> and BEN WILLCOCKS, ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 17:21 EST, 12 November 2025 | Updated: 18:53 EST, 12 November 2025 <\/p>\n

A pro-Palestine group has gatecrashed UEFA’s official launch event for the 2028 European Championship<\/a> in London.<\/p>\n

European football’s governing body held a launch party at the Under The Lights venue in Piccadilly Circus on Wednesday night, attended by UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and other high-profile figures from across the sport.<\/p>\n

A noisy group with \u2018Free\u00a0Palestine<\/a>\u2019 flags protested outside the venue,\u00a0holding banners which also read \u2018You are complicit\u2019, \u2018Show Israel the red card\u2019 and \u2018Offside for genocide\u2019, among others.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They shouted \u2018blood on your hands\u2019 and \u2018shame on you\u2019, and chanted \u2018Kick Israel out\u2019 amid calls to ban the country from sports events following the Gaza conflict.<\/p>\n

A footballer known as the \u2018Palestinian\u00a0Pele<\/a>\u2019, called Suleiman al-Obeid, was killed in August in an Israeli attack on southern Gaza, according to the Palestine Football Association.<\/p>\n

Police monitoring the protest estimated there were around 60 protestors in attendance as Tyrone Mings<\/a>, whose Aston Villa<\/a> team faced Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv<\/a> last week in the Europa League<\/a>, arrived to attend the UEFA event at around 7.15pm.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A pro-Palestine group has gatecrashed UEFA’s official launch event for Euro 2028 in London<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A noisy group with \u2018Free Palestine\u2019 flags protested outside at the venue in Piccadilly Circus<\/p>\n

\"They <\/p>\n

They held banners which read \u2018You are complicit\u2019 and \u2018Offside for genocide\u2019, among others<\/p>\n

During the event, it was announced that Cardiff’s\u00a0Principality Stadium will officially open Euro<\/a>\u00a02028, which is being staged in England, Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, London’s Wembley Stadium will play host to the semi-finals and a final, which has been handed a new 5pm kick-off time by UEFA.<\/p>\n

That tournament \u2013 which will involve 24 teams competing in 51 games \u2013 will begin on Friday June 9, 2028 and end exactly a month later on Sunday July 9.<\/p>\n

UEFA also announced that the host nations will play their group games in front of their own fans if they qualify directly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

President Ceferin said during the event: ‘Football is the universal language. It expresses passion, skill, courage, solidarity and respect better than any other, and it constantly reminds us that our differences are exactly what make our sport so beautiful. At Euro 2028, we will all speak football \u2013 loud, clear and united.<\/p>\n

‘The host nations, where the game first took shape, are eager to welcome millions of fans into legendary stadiums, providing the right stage for a festival of emotions, vividly encapsulated in the design we presented today.<\/p>\n

‘The fans will be the beating heart of this tournament. In the way matches are staged \u2013 including a new, more convenient kick-off time for the final \u2013 and in the services across host cities and stadiums, we want to maximise the fan experience, in the venues and around the world, so more people than ever can fully enjoy what promises to be one of the year’s greatest events.’<\/p>\n

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\n Pro-Palestine protestors gatecrash Euro 2028 launch event in London – and accuse ‘complicit’ UEFA of having ‘blood on their hands’ amid calls to ban Israel from tournament<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By KIERAN GILL, MAIL SPORT REPORTER and BEN WILLCOCKS, ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Published: 17:21 EST, 12 November 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[102,748,92,393,1811,94,4884,837,257,93,80477,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-566507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-aston-villa","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-europa-league","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-london","17":"tag-sport","18":"tag-tyrone-mings","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115539511696835425","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}