NEW YORK, March 23 — New York City Police were called by McDonald’s Corporation Tuesday, as Florida U.S. Senate candidate Andy Martin launched a worldwide boycott to show solidarity with Palestinians who are being discriminated against by McDonald’s in Israel. Martin held a news conference to ask diners to avoid eating at McDonald’s restaurant to “help fight racism in Israel.”

“We heard sirens in the distance, and suddenly two police cars filled with officers showed up and parked in the middle of the street,” said Martin.” People who knew nothing about the boycott suddenly wondered what was going on. Fox 5 New York, as well as a photographer for the Chicago Tribune, captured the event.

“Our boycott was/is peaceful. In fact McDonald’s knew the boycott was peaceful, because we had warned them in advance. McDonald’s was apparently afraid of an outbreak of violence because of their racist policies in Israel. McDonald’s employees also tried to threaten and intimidate me. I was not fazed.”

Martin began a boycott of McDonald’s after the firm fired an Arabic-speaking employee. McDonald’s Israeli management claims all McDonald’s Israeli employees must speak Hebrew. Arabic is an official language of Israel. Martin helped launch a successful 2002 boycott of Microsoft after the firm placed prominent billboards in Israel supporting Israeli Defense Forces massacres. Microsoft withdrew the billboards.

Martin is in New York Tuesday and Wednesday for campaign planning, Washington, DC on Thursday and Friday, and returns to Florida Saturday. He is expected to issue a major foreign policy statement Friday criticizing the Bush Administration’s policy in the Middle East.

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BY TOPIC: McDonald’s Israel’s ban on Arabic

Andy Martin is an independent investigative author and talk show host. He has been involved in the Middle East since 1971 and is one of America’s most respected foreign policy analysts. He is scheduled to return to Baghdad in May. Media contact: (866) 706-2639. Martin is expected to qualify in May as a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for U.S. Senator from Florida. In recent Florida U.S. Senate Republican primary he received 35% of the vote.