A transgender refugee has been charged after carrying a sign that read “Israel burn in hell” during a pro-Palestine rally in London.
Laura Davis, 22, reportedly pleaded guilty to a charge of causing racially, religiously aggravated harassment, distress or alarm by words or writing.
Davis, a native Arabic speaker, claimed she did not know what the placard said because it was written in English.
The charge against the young adult 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.”
Davis allegedly left Saudi Arabia in December 2021 because she was not accepted as a transgender person.
Nicholas Tarry, 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.”
According to Tarry, Davis will have to pay £225 for the offense, which amounts to around $286 in the U.S. dollar.
“You have come to this country for tolerance,” Tarry told Davis, adding that “you deserve tolerance and other people do as well. You must show other people the tolerance you expect them to show you. Do you understand?”
