Other shows of support from farther afield have included a petition delivered to the Spanish government signed by actors, academics, activists and others, including Richard Gere, Greta Thunberg and Angela Davis. In Tunisia, supporters of the Club Africain football team displayed banners and T-shirts at a recent match that read “Free Fergie”. In Portugal, at Festa do Avante, one of that country’s largest cultural festivals, fans held up a banner saying: “Free Fergie – supporting Palestine isn’t a crime.”
His views and donations have been extensively profiled in US media. He was interviewed on a TV news station in New Hampshire in late 2023 about a direct action against Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense contractor, staged by a group whose legal fees he paid, then called Palestine Action – a group now proscribed in the UK as a “terrorist organization”.
Irene Zugasti helped organize rallies earlier this week and last weekend in support of Chambers in Madrid, Barcelona and several other Spanish cities. She sees the case as bigger than whether he is extradited or not. “If they go after Fergie, they’ll go after anyone … It’s a test – to see until what point European governments feel pressure from the United States.”