A GROUP of protesters gathered outside the Guardian’s office in King’s Cross on Wednesday with bags of food from Gail’s after being left outraged by an article which commented on its new branch’s closeness to a Palestinian café.

Windows of the upmarket eatery in Archway were smashed and messages spray-painted after it opened near the entrance to the tube station and close to Cafe Metro, which has previously been asked by Islington Council to take down pro-Palestine flags and imagery.

Gail’s was originally founded by a Jewish baker in the 1990s, although its ownership has changed over the years. Demonstrators say it should be boycotted not due to its origins but because its current majority owner, Bain Capital, also invests in Israeli military tech companies which have, in turn, played a role in the bombing of Gaza.

In his comment piece for the Guardian, writer Jonathan Liew said Gail’s arrival was “an act of heavy-handed high street aggression” and described the activism as “small acts of petty symbolism”.

While the arrival of Gail’s in an area has often triggered discussion about gentrification, the newspaper was accused of “minimising anti-Semitism” in its coverage of the vandalism at the shop.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “It is not acceptable to refer to the opening of a bakery as an act of ‘aggression’ on the basis of the ethnic, religious or national ties of its founders, or to justify importing conflict onto our streets on the basis of those characteristics.”

The Guardian has since amended Mr Liew’s article. It said “high street aggression” was meant to relate to the effect big chains would have on independent traders like Cafe Metro.”

It added: “A comment contrasting activism that is capable of influencing global events with ‘small acts of petty symbolism’, which was not intended to minimise local vandalism but rather to suggest its misdirected futility, has been removed to avoid misunderstanding.”