Oxford University scholar accused of stirring racial hatred by chanting ‘put the Zios within the floor’ at Pro-Palestine rally in Whitehall to go on trial in TWO YEARS’ time
Samuel Williams, 21, is accused of stirring up racial hatred at a Palestine Coalition demonstration in Whitehall, central London, on Saturday, October 11.
He was charged last year and appeared before Southwark Crown Court today.
He spoke to confirm his name and plead not guilty.
He was given conditional bail and told a trial date was set for January 17 2028.
Williams was previously told he was not allowed to take part in Palestine-related protests inside the M25 or in Oxford as part of his bail.
Williams was identified by the Daily Mail after the incident was caught on camera and shared on social media.
‘Zio’ is an offensive reference to Zionists, and some have interpreted the words as calling for death to Jews.
Pictures from Williams’s Instagram page show him sporting a red and white keffiyeh scarf
Speaking through a microphone at the march, the man on camera apparently told the crowd: ‘A steadfast and noble resistance in Palestine and in Gaza to look to, to be inspired by and – I don’t want to yap for too long – but a chant that we’ve been workshopping in Oxford that maybe you guys want to join in.
‘It goes “Gaza, Gaza make us proud, put the Zios in the ground”.’
Williams was arrested at a property in Oxfordshire on suspicion of inciting racial hatred following an investigation launched by Scotland Yard detectives.
The philosophy, politics and economics student at Balliol College was also suspended by Oxford University.
Before winning a place at Oxford, Williams was a ‘swot’ at the ‘outstanding’-rated Bennett Memorial Diocesan School in Tunbridge Wells where former classmates remember him coming ‘top in almost everything’.
The school is close to the £350,000 semi-detached family home where neighbours said the family was well respected.
One said: ‘His parents are nice people. They’re well liked. His mother was a councillor and took an active part in the community. I haven’t seen them for a while, but the video is quite shocking.’
Williams is a regular pro-Palestine protester. Pictures from his Instagram account show him regularly posing in a keffiyeh scarf – an accessory associated with the pro-Palestine movement.
Williams also features on a language-tutors site in which he described himself as ‘native German’ with ‘a passion for German culture both old and modern’.
Speaking at the time, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said there had been an ‘unacceptable increase in anti-Semitism’ at universities and added that many Jewish students did not feel safe on campus.
She called on universities to strengthen protections for Jewish students and said the Government was funding training to help staff and students ‘tackle this poison of antisemitism’.
