UK
Yvette Cooper vows to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws
“Remember when they called Nelson Mandela a terrorist.”
Haroon Siddique and Geneva Abdul
Mon, June 23, 2025
THE GUARDIAN
A protester holds up a placard during a demonstration in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London, on Monday.
Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian
The home secretary has said she will ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws, ignoring a warning from the group’s solicitors that the proposal was “unlawful, dangerous and ill thought out”.
In a statement to parliament on Monday, three days after activists from the group broke into RAF Brize Norton, Yvette Cooper said a draft proscription order would be laid in parliament on 30 June. If passed, it would make it illegal to be a member of, or invite support for, Palestine Action.
The group, founded in 2020, says it aims to prevent the commission of genocide and war crimes in Palestine and to expose and target property and premises connected to such crimes against humanity.
Many of its activists have been acquitted by juries in the past and a letter from Kellys Solicitors, which represents several Palestine Action activists, sent to Cooper on Monday said the group “has gathered a significant level of public support”.
But in her statement, the home secretary said: “The disgraceful attack on Brize Norton in the early hours of the morning on Friday 20 June is the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action. The UK’s defence enterprise is vital to the nation’s national security and this government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk.”
Palestine Action called the proposed ban “unhinged” and accused Keir Starmer of “rank hypocrisy”, given that he defended protesters who broke into RAF Fairford in 2003 to stop US bombers heading to Iraq.
Describing its members as “teachers, nurses, students and parents”, it said: “This is an unhinged reaction to an action spraying paint in protest [at] the UK government arming Israel’s slaughter of the Palestinian people.
“The real crime here is not red paint being sprayed on these warplanes, but the war crimes that have been enabled with those planes because of the UK government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide.”
It said Cooper’s statement repeated a series of categorically false claims made by pro-Israel groups and that its lawyers were pursuing all avenues for legal challenge.
The letter to Cooper from Kellys, shared exclusively with the Guardian, said there were no previous instances of direct action protest organisations being proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000, despite several others having used comparable methods to Palestine Action, and that it was a “terrifying precedent” to place it alongside groups such as Islamic State, al-Qaida or National Action.
It said: “Whilst some actions of those associated with Palestine Action have involved damage to property, activists do not advocate or intend unlawful violence against the person. A significant number of actions associated with Palestine Action have used entirely conventional campaigning methods such as marches, rallies and demos. It is an authoritarian turn and an abuse of language to label them as a ‘terrorist’ organisation.
“The proposal to proscribe Palestine Action is wholly unprecedented and constitutes an unlawful, dangerous and ill thought out attack on freedom of expression and assembly.”
Amnesty International and Liberty also wrote a joint letter to Cooper before the announcement to express their concerns.
The former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called the government’s decision “as absurd as it is authoritarian”, adding: “It represents a draconian assault on democratic right to protest and is a disgraceful attempt to hide the real meaning of violence: the mass murder of Palestinians.”
The Labour peer and barrister John Hendy KC said: “This is an abuse of anti-terrorist legislation which was passed to apply to terrorist activities, not non-violent protest. There is a full armoury of criminal laws to deal with unlawful non-violent protest, as the PM knows better than most.”
The former justice secretary Charlie Falconer said on Sunday that the “sort of demonstration” at Brize Norton would not justify proscription, “so there must be something else that I don’t know about”.
The home secretary’s statement appeared to offer no new information about the group. Cooper said it had been deemed to meet the threshold for proscription “through a robust evidence-based process, by a wide range of experts from across government, the police and the security services”.
On Sunday night, the Metropolitan police placed public order restrictions on a planned solidarity demonstration for Palestine Action, so hundreds of supporters instead took to the streets surrounding Trafalgar Square in London on Monday afternoon.
A Met spokesperson said 13 people had been arrested, including six people for assaulting an emergency worker. “While the protest initially began in a peaceful manner, officers faced violence when they went into the crowd to speak to three individuals whose behaviour was arousing suspicion,” they said.
“This sequence of events repeated itself on multiple occasions, with officers being surrounded on each occasion they tried to deal with an incident.”
As arrests were made, protesters chanted “Let them go” at lines of police. Those in attendance called the government decision “anti-democratic” and a shocking overreach.
Among those concerned was Nasiya, who has lived in London for 20 years. Born and raised in South Africa, she knew what apartheid looked like first-hand, she said, as she held a placard that said: “Remember when they called Nelson Mandela a terrorist.”
The home secretary has said she will ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws, ignoring a warning from the group’s solicitors that the proposal was “unlawful, dangerous and ill thought out”.
In a statement to parliament on Monday, three days after activists from the group broke into RAF Brize Norton, Yvette Cooper said a draft proscription order would be laid in parliament on 30 June. If passed, it would make it illegal to be a member of, or invite support for, Palestine Action.
The group, founded in 2020, says it aims to prevent the commission of genocide and war crimes in Palestine and to expose and target property and premises connected to such crimes against humanity.
Many of its activists have been acquitted by juries in the past and a letter from Kellys Solicitors, which represents several Palestine Action activists, sent to Cooper on Monday said the group “has gathered a significant level of public support”.
But in her statement, the home secretary said: “The disgraceful attack on Brize Norton in the early hours of the morning on Friday 20 June is the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action. The UK’s defence enterprise is vital to the nation’s national security and this government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk.”
Palestine Action called the proposed ban “unhinged” and accused Keir Starmer of “rank hypocrisy”, given that he defended protesters who broke into RAF Fairford in 2003 to stop US bombers heading to Iraq.
Describing its members as “teachers, nurses, students and parents”, it said: “This is an unhinged reaction to an action spraying paint in protest [at] the UK government arming Israel’s slaughter of the Palestinian people.
“The real crime here is not red paint being sprayed on these warplanes, but the war crimes that have been enabled with those planes because of the UK government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide.”
It said Cooper’s statement repeated a series of categorically false claims made by pro-Israel groups and that its lawyers were pursuing all avenues for legal challenge.
The letter to Cooper from Kellys, shared exclusively with the Guardian, said there were no previous instances of direct action protest organisations being proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000, despite several others having used comparable methods to Palestine Action, and that it was a “terrifying precedent” to place it alongside groups such as Islamic State, al-Qaida or National Action.
It said: “Whilst some actions of those associated with Palestine Action have involved damage to property, activists do not advocate or intend unlawful violence against the person. A significant number of actions associated with Palestine Action have used entirely conventional campaigning methods such as marches, rallies and demos. It is an authoritarian turn and an abuse of language to label them as a ‘terrorist’ organisation.
“The proposal to proscribe Palestine Action is wholly unprecedented and constitutes an unlawful, dangerous and ill thought out attack on freedom of expression and assembly.”
Amnesty International and Liberty also wrote a joint letter to Cooper before the announcement to express their concerns.
The former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called the government’s decision “as absurd as it is authoritarian”, adding: “It represents a draconian assault on democratic right to protest and is a disgraceful attempt to hide the real meaning of violence: the mass murder of Palestinians.”
The Labour peer and barrister John Hendy KC said: “This is an abuse of anti-terrorist legislation which was passed to apply to terrorist activities, not non-violent protest. There is a full armoury of criminal laws to deal with unlawful non-violent protest, as the PM knows better than most.”
The former justice secretary Charlie Falconer said on Sunday that the “sort of demonstration” at Brize Norton would not justify proscription, “so there must be something else that I don’t know about”.
The home secretary’s statement appeared to offer no new information about the group. Cooper said it had been deemed to meet the threshold for proscription “through a robust evidence-based process, by a wide range of experts from across government, the police and the security services”.
On Sunday night, the Metropolitan police placed public order restrictions on a planned solidarity demonstration for Palestine Action, so hundreds of supporters instead took to the streets surrounding Trafalgar Square in London on Monday afternoon.
A Met spokesperson said 13 people had been arrested, including six people for assaulting an emergency worker. “While the protest initially began in a peaceful manner, officers faced violence when they went into the crowd to speak to three individuals whose behaviour was arousing suspicion,” they said.
“This sequence of events repeated itself on multiple occasions, with officers being surrounded on each occasion they tried to deal with an incident.”
As arrests were made, protesters chanted “Let them go” at lines of police. Those in attendance called the government decision “anti-democratic” and a shocking overreach.
Among those concerned was Nasiya, who has lived in London for 20 years. Born and raised in South Africa, she knew what apartheid looked like first-hand, she said, as she held a placard that said: “Remember when they called Nelson Mandela a terrorist.”
MPs raise concerns about Labour’s plan to proscribe Palestine Action as terror group
Yesterday
Left Foot Forward
‘Such a move would be completely non-proportional and a hugely worrying restriction on the right to peaceful protest’
Left Foot Forward
‘Such a move would be completely non-proportional and a hugely worrying restriction on the right to peaceful protest’
MPs have voiced concern as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said the government plans to proscribe Palestine Action under terrorism laws after they targeted an RAF base last week.
A draft proscription order will be presented to Parliament next Monday, and if passed, will make it illegal to be part of or “invite support for” the pro-Palestinian protest network under Section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
In a written statement to Parliament today, Cooper said that since it was formed in 2020, “Palestine Action has orchestrated a nationwide campaign of direct criminal action against businesses and institutions”.
On Friday morning, activists from Palestine Action, which uses direct action tactics to disrupt the UK arms industry, broke into RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire and spray painted two military planes.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the actions, calling them “disgraceful” and “an act of vandalism”.
Today, Palestine Action are protesting outside Parliament about the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Left MPs have warned that proscribing the group represents a misuse of anti-terrorism powers, and threatens the right to peaceful protest.
Labour MP Nadia Whittome said in a post on X: “Targeting non-violent protesters in this way is a misuse of terrorism-related powers.
“It sets a dangerous precedent, which governments in future could further use against their critics,” adding that “we should all be concerned” about the Home Secretary’s plan.
Ellie Chowns, a Green MP, wrote on X that she was “deeply concerned” about the announcement. She said: “This is a shocking overreaction to a couple of protestors using paint.
“Such a move would be completely non-proportional and a hugely worrying restriction on the right to peaceful protest which is a cornerstone of democracy.”
Irish novelist Sally Rooney has written about the government’s plan to proscribe Palestine Action in the Guardian today.
While the Home Secretary has broad powers to proscribe any organisation “concerned in terrorism”, Rooney points out that this process has previously only been used against militant groups involved in or advocating for violent armed struggle.
Rooney warned: “If the government proceeds down this path, any ordinary person in the UK could in theory be sent to prison simply for expressing verbal support for non-violent activism.”
She added that: “Palestine Action is not an armed group. It has never been responsible for any fatalities and does not pose any risk to the public.”
The bestselling author said she supports Palestine Action wholeheartedly and added that she “will continue to, whether that becomes a terrorist offence or not”.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
Albert Toth
Mon, June 23, 2025
THE INDEPENDENT
The pro-Palestine activist group that broke into an Oxfordshire RAF base to spray-paint military planes has been banned by the Home Office .
Formed in 2020, Palestine Action has conducted a series of direct action protests over the past five years, largely against arms manufacturers operating in the UK and selling weapons to Israel.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper has now confirmed her decision to proscribe the group following its latest action, effectively branding it a terrorist organisation. This would make it illegal to become a member of Palestine Action or solicit support for it.
A spokesperson for Palestine Action said: "When our government fails to uphold their moral and legal obligations, it is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to take direct action."
Pro-Palestinian activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire (Palestine Action/PA) (Palestine Action)
A protest in central London on Monday in response to the fallout, has seen police clash with demonstrators. Met Police chief Mark Rowley said before the event he was “shocked and frustrated” by the plans, adding that he believed the action goes “beyond what most would see as legitimate protest."
What else has Palestine Action done in the past?
Palestine Action was established on 30 July 2020 after a group of activists broke into and spray-painted the interior of Elbit Systems’ UK headquarters in London.
The defence contractor has continued to be the main target of Palestine Action’s protests since its formation. Based in Israel Elbit Systems is the country’s largest weapons manufacturer. It supplies the majority of the drones and land-based equipment used by the Israeli military.
In the UK, Elbit has multiple UK subsidiaries which operate across 16 sites across the country, with 680 employees. Its latest new site is a manufacturing and development facility in Bristol, opened in 2023.
On 19 May 2021 four members of Palestine Action dressed in boilers suits climbed onto the roof of an Elbit-owned drone factory in Leicester. The action was taken in response to a period of unrest in May of that year, in which 256 Palestinians and 17 Israelis were killed.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper is understood to have decided to proscribe Palestine Action (House of Commons)
Similar occupations have been carried out at Elbit-owned sites in Bristol, Oldham and Tamworth.
In April 2024, the group targeted Somerset County Hall, a Grade II-listed building owned by Somerset council, by splashing it with red paint. This was in response to the local authority leasing a building to Elbit near Bristol
This site was targeted by Palestine Action for the 17th time in March 2025, with four of the groups members using a cherry picker to damage the building. One used a sledgehammer on a rope to smash windows while others spray painted the building.
In June 2025, activists from the group damaged two planes at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire by using repurposed fire extinguishers to spray red paint into their turbine engines and cause further damage with crowbars.
Palestine Action say its members did this due to flights that leave the site daily for Akrotiri in Cyprus, the site of a base used for military operations in Gaza and across the Middle East.
A spokesperson for the group said: “By putting the planes out of service, activists have interrupted Britain’s direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.”
Ban on Palestine Action would have ‘chilling effect’ on other protest groups
Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent
THE GUARDIAN
Mon, June 23, 2025
Mon, June 23, 2025
Pro-Palestine protesters protest in Trafalgar Square, including supporters of Palestine Action.Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian
The crackdown on protest in England and Wales has been ringing alarm bells for years, but the decision to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws raises the stakes dramatically.
As the group itself has said, it is the first time the government has attempted to proscribe a direct action protest organisation under the Terrorism Act, placing it alongside the likes of Islamic State, al-Qaida and National Action.
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the proposed ban was evidence-based and had been assessed by a wide range of experts.
In several attacks, Palestine Action has committed acts of serious damage to property with the aim of progressing its political cause and influencing the government,” she said.
Proscribing the group, which uses direct action mainly to target Israeli weapons factories in the UK, would make it illegal not only to be a member of Palestine Action but to show support for it.
Given that neither its methods nor its targets are unprecedented, a ban is likely to make every group which has an aim of “progressing its political cause and influencing the government” through protest think twice.
Greenpeace UK’s co-executive director, Areeba Hamid, said a ban would “mark a dark turn for our democracy and a new low for a government already intent on stamping out the right to protest. The police already have laws to prosecute any individuals found guilty of a crime.”
Laws passed in recent years have already increased police powers to restrict and shut down protests. At the same time, protesters have often been gagged from telling juries what motivated their actions and have received record prison sentences.
The final straw for ministers appears to have been the embarrassing security breach at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Friday, in which two Palestine Action activists broke in and sprayed two military planes with red paint.
But protesters have caused criminal damage to military facilities in the past and even been acquitted for it, while Cooper herself admitted it might not amount to terrorism.
Before becoming prime minister, Keir Starmer successfully defended protesters who broke into an RAF base in 2003 to stop US bombers heading to Iraq. He argued that it was lawful because their intention was to prevent war crimes.
Palestine Action said that pro-Israel groups had lobbied for the ban and there is evidence to support that contention.
Internal government documents released under freedom of information laws have revealed meetings, apparently to discuss Palestine Action, between the government and Israeli embassy officials, although they were heavily redacted. Ministers have also met representatives from the Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems.
The organisation We Believe in Israel, which Labour MP Luke Akehurst used to be director of, began a campaign this month to ban Palestine Action.
In an accompanying report, it stated: “In July 2022, the group was investigated under counter-terrorism protocols following intelligence suggesting contact between some of its members and individuals linked to Hamas-aligned networks abroad (see: Metropolitan Police briefing, classified).
“While the investigation yielded no direct terror charges, it underscored the degree of concern shared by law enforcement agencies over Palestine Action’s increasingly radicalised behaviour.”
It is not clear how or why We Believe in Israel was granted access to classified documents.
There was no reference to links to Hamas in Cooper’s statement but she did refer to Palestine Action as threatening infrastructure which supports Ukraine and Nato, echoing language in We Believe in Israel’s report.
With the government already unpopular among many over its stance on Gaza, the planned ban risks looking like it is based on Palestine Action’s cause rather than its methods.
Akiko Hart, Liberty director, said: “Proscribing a direct-action protest group in this way potentially sets a new precedent for what we do and do not treat as terrorism.
“We’re worried about the chilling effect this would have on the thousands of people who campaign for Palestine, and their ability to express themselves and take part in protests.
“Proscribing Palestine Action would mean that showing support for them in any way – for example, sharing a post on social media or wearing a logo – could carry a prison sentence.”
UK moves to ban protest group Palestine Action
Peter HUTCHISON and Clara CANDILLIER
Mon, June 23, 2025
Supporters of Palestine Action protest at Trafalgar Square in London as Britain moves to ban the group (HENRY NICHOLLS)HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP/AFP
The UK government announced Monday it would ban campaign group Palestine Action under anti-terror laws following a "disgraceful attack" on Britain's largest air force base last week.
The group denounced the proposed ban, announced by interior minister Yvette Cooper, as an "unhinged reaction" and its supporters scuffled with police in central London as they protested the move.
On Friday, Palestine Action activists broke into the RAF Brize Norton base in southern England, raising questions about security at the site and embarrassing Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government.
A video posted by the group showed two activists spraying a plane with red paint while roaming the base on scooters. Counter-terror police are investigating the incident.
Cooper said the vandalism at the base was "the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage" committed by the group since it formed in 2020.
"In several attacks, Palestine Action has committed acts of serious damage to property with the aim of progressing its political cause and influencing the government," Cooper said in a statement.
She announced she would lay a draft order before parliament next Monday that would ban the group under Britain's Terrorism Act of 2000.
Labour holds a massive majority in parliament, meaning the proposal should pass easily.
Palestine Action condemned the proposed ban as an attack on free speech.
"The real crime here is not red paint being sprayed on these war planes, but the war crimes that have been enabled with those planes because of the UK Government's complicity in Israel's genocide," it said in a statement.
Cooper listed other attacks by Palestine Action at Thales defence factory in Glasgow in 2022, and two last year against Instro Precision in Kent, southeast England, and Elbit Systems UK in Bristol, in the country's southwest.
"Such incidents do not represent legitimate or peaceful protest," Cooper said.
"The UK's defence enterprise is vital to the nation's national security and this government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk," she added.
The ban will make it a criminal offence to belong to or support the group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Cooper stressed that her decision "is specific to Palestine Action and does not affect lawful protest groups and other organisations campaigning on issues around Palestine or the Middle East".
- 'Too far' -
But Labour's former spokesperson on legal matters Shami Chakrabarti, speaking ahead of the government's announcement, said she shared concerns that a ban could be going "too far".
"From what I can tell, this is a militant protest group that engages in direct action and that includes criminality, no question, but to elevate that to terrorism... is a serious escalation I think," she told BBC radio.
Palestine Action says it uses "disruption tactics" to target "corporate enablers" and seeks to "make it impossible for these companies to profit from the oppression of Palestinians".
In recent months, it has sprayed the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalised US President Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in Scotland.
Last month, Palestine Action claimed responsibility for vandalising a US military aircraft in Ireland.
In London Monday, protesters surged towards police when officers tried to detain someone, while onlookers chanted "let them go".
"It's an attack on civil rights," 45-year-old demonstrator Joe Dawson, who works in advertising, said of the proposed ban.
"At most it's criminal damage, not terrorism," he told AFP.
Starmer's Labour government suspended around 30 out of 350 arms export licenses to Israel last September, citing a "risk" they could be used in violations of international law.
But the UK continues to supply components for F-35 fighter jets to a global pool that Israel is able to access.
Israel has repeatedly denied allegations it is committing genocide in Gaza during its 20-month-long military campaign following Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023.
Some 80 organisations are banned under the UK's Terrorism Act, including al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Russia's Wagner paramilitary group.
pdh-str/jwp/yad
Met Chief ‘shocked and frustrated’ at planned Palestine Action protest
Charles Hymas
Sun, June 22, 2025
TELEGRAPH
Home Secretary expected to confirm plans on Monday to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation
Sir Mark Rowley has said he is “shocked and frustrated” that Palestine Action is mounting a protest outside Parliament just three days after damaging planes at Brize Norton RAF base.
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner said he did not have the power to ban the protest because Palestine Action, which he branded an “extremist criminal group”, has not yet been proscribed.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is expected to announce plans on Monday to proscribe the group, putting it on a par with Hamas, al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
“If that happens we will be determined to target those who continue to act in its name and those who show support for it,” Sir Mark vowed.
He revealed that the Met had laid out to the Government the “operational basis” on which it could consider proscribing the group following its attack on Brize Norton, in which activists breached security and sprayed paint into the engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft.
His comments came after Lord Walney, the former Government adviser on political violence, told The Telegraph that MPs’ and peers’ security was at risk from Monday’s protest.
He said there was growing concern following a previous pro-Palestine demonstration outside Parliament two weeks ago, which saw peers “harassed, intimidated and obstructed”
Sir Mark said: “I’m sure many people will be as shocked and frustrated as I am to see a protest taking place tomorrow in support of Palestine Action.
“We do have the power to impose conditions on it to prevent disorder, damage, and serious disruption to the community, including to Parliament, to elected representatives moving around Westminster and to ordinary Londoners.”
Sir Mark Rowley says the Met is concerned about the Palestine Action protest outside Parliament - Getty Images/Leon Neal
He said members of Palestine Action were alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage and assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer even before last week’s attack on Brize Norton. He noted multiple members of the group were awaiting trial accused of serious offences.
“The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest,” he said.
“Thousands of people attend protests of a different character every week without clashing with the law or with the police. The criminal charges faced by Palestine Action members, in contrast, represent a form of extremism that I believe the overwhelming majority of the public rejects.”
Palestine Action has also targetted Trump Turnberry, a golf club own by Donald Trump - Milo Chandler/PA Wire
Palestine Action has posted on social media a call to supporters to join an “emergency mobilisation” on Monday at 12pm at the Houses of Parliament, with the headline “We are all Palestine Action”.
Some 60 peers have written to Lord McFall, the Lord Speaker, calling for a review of current security arrangements around Parliament with Scotland Yard and parliamentary officials.
Lord Walney said: “MPs and peers look like they have to run the gauntlet just to get into Parliament to exercise their democratic duty on behalf of the nation. This is putting their security at risk and clearly undermining democracy where parliamentarians feel they are afraid to go to work.
“The Met have frankly let people down recently in the way they have allowed crowds to physically intimidate people trying to get access to Parliament. There is a real responsibility for them to change their approach for this protest.
“This is an organisation set to be banned as a terrorist organisation which is connected to a number of trials going through the system involving serious violence against individuals.”
Jonathan Hall KC, the Government’s independent adviser on terrorism legislation, said that proscription of Palestine Action was “within the bounds of acceptability” even though it was on the basis of the scale of damage to significant infrastructure including military equipment rather than against individuals.
“All other terrorist organisations are banned or proscribed because they are using or threatening violence to people. This is an unusual one in this respect,” he said.
However, he suggested that Palestine Action had tipped over into “blackmail” rather than purely protest. “It’s gone to a point where they’ve started to say, we will carry on causing hundreds of millions of pounds worth of damage unless you stop,” said Mr Hall.
“And I think the way the law approaches that, there’s a difference between protest and effectively, blackmail.”
Palestine Action’s latest protest saw it spray-paint the engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft a Brize Norton RAF base
However, Lord Falconer, the former Labour lord chancellor, said vandalising aircraft at the RAF Brize Norton would not solely provide legal justification for proscribing Palestine Action.
Asked whether the group’s actions were “commensurate with the need to proscribe an organisation”, Lord Falconer told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “I am not aware of what Palestine Action has done beyond the painting of things on the planes in Brize Norton, they may have done other things I didn’t know.
“I think the question will probably not be what we know about them publicly, but there would need to be something that was known by those who look at these sorts of things that we don’t know about, because I mean, they got into the air base which might suggest they’ve got some degree of ability to make them dangerous, I don’t know.
“But generally, that sort of demonstration wouldn’t justify proscription so there must be something else that I don’t know about.”
Met Police head ‘shocked’ at planned protest in support of Palestine Action
Sam Hall
Mon, June 23, 2025
THE INDEPENDENT
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has voiced his "shock and frustration" over a planned protest in Westminster supporting Palestine Action.
He branded the organisation, which the Government is moving to ban, as an “organised extremist criminal group”.
Sir Mark lamented the current legal limitations, stating that until Palestine Action is officially proscribed, the force has “no power in law” to prevent the demonstration from taking place.
He did, however, issue a clear warning that any breaches of the law during the protest would be “dealt with robustly”.
The Home Secretary is scheduled to update Parliament on Monday regarding the government's intention to ban Palestine Action, a decision spurred by the group's recent vandalism of two planes at an RAF base.
Yvette Cooper will provide MPs with more details on the move to proscribe the group, making it a criminal offence to belong to or support it, in a written ministerial statement.
The decision comes after the group posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
The clip shows one person riding an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker and appearing to spray paint into its jet engine.
The incident is being investigated by counter-terror police.
In a statement on Sunday, Sir Mark said: “I’m sure many people will be as shocked and frustrated as I am to see a protest taking place tomorrow in support of Palestine Action.
“This is an organised extremist criminal group, whose proscription as terrorists is being actively considered.
“Members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer and last week claimed responsibility for breaking into an airbase and damaging aircraft. Multiple members of the group are awaiting trial accused of serious offences.
“The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest.
“Thousands of people attend protests of a different character every week without clashing with the law or with the police. The criminal charges faced by Palestine Action members, in contrast, represent a form of extremism that I believe the overwhelming majority of the public rejects.
“We have laid out to Government the operational basis on which to consider proscribing this group. If that happens we will be determined to target those who continue to act in its name and those who show support for it.
“Until then we have no power in law to prevent tomorrow’s protest taking place. We do, however, have the power to impose conditions on it to prevent disorder, damage, and serious disruption to the community, including to Parliament, to elected representatives moving around Westminster and to ordinary Londoners.
“Breaches of the law will be dealt with robustly.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has voiced his "shock and frustration" over a planned protest in Westminster supporting Palestine Action.
He branded the organisation, which the Government is moving to ban, as an “organised extremist criminal group”.
Sir Mark lamented the current legal limitations, stating that until Palestine Action is officially proscribed, the force has “no power in law” to prevent the demonstration from taking place.
He did, however, issue a clear warning that any breaches of the law during the protest would be “dealt with robustly”.
The Home Secretary is scheduled to update Parliament on Monday regarding the government's intention to ban Palestine Action, a decision spurred by the group's recent vandalism of two planes at an RAF base.
Yvette Cooper will provide MPs with more details on the move to proscribe the group, making it a criminal offence to belong to or support it, in a written ministerial statement.
The decision comes after the group posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
The clip shows one person riding an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker and appearing to spray paint into its jet engine.
The incident is being investigated by counter-terror police.
In a statement on Sunday, Sir Mark said: “I’m sure many people will be as shocked and frustrated as I am to see a protest taking place tomorrow in support of Palestine Action.
“This is an organised extremist criminal group, whose proscription as terrorists is being actively considered.
“Members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer and last week claimed responsibility for breaking into an airbase and damaging aircraft. Multiple members of the group are awaiting trial accused of serious offences.
“The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest.
“Thousands of people attend protests of a different character every week without clashing with the law or with the police. The criminal charges faced by Palestine Action members, in contrast, represent a form of extremism that I believe the overwhelming majority of the public rejects.
“We have laid out to Government the operational basis on which to consider proscribing this group. If that happens we will be determined to target those who continue to act in its name and those who show support for it.
“Until then we have no power in law to prevent tomorrow’s protest taking place. We do, however, have the power to impose conditions on it to prevent disorder, damage, and serious disruption to the community, including to Parliament, to elected representatives moving around Westminster and to ordinary Londoners.
“Breaches of the law will be dealt with robustly.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley (PA Archive)
A spokesperson for Palestine Action previously accused the UK of failing to meet its obligation to prevent or punish genocide.
The spokesperson said: “When our Government fails to uphold their moral and legal obligations, it is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to take direct action. The terrorists are the ones committing a genocide, not those who break the tools used to commit it.”
Cabinet minister Jonathan Reynolds said he could not rule out the possibility of a foreign power being behind Palestine Action.
The Business and Trade Secretary told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “It is extremely concerning they gained access to that base and the Defence Secretary is doing an immediate review of how that happened.
“The actions that they undertook at Brize Norton were also completely unacceptable and it’s not the first. It’s the fourth attack by that group on a key piece of UK defence infrastructure.”
The Home Secretary has the power to proscribe an organisation under the Terrorism Act of 2000 if she believes it is “concerned in terrorism”.
Proscription will require Ms Cooper to lay an order in Parliament, which must then be debated and approved by both MPs and peers.
Some 81 organisations have been proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and al Qaida, far-right groups such as National Action, and Russian private military company the Wagner Group.
Former justice secretary Lord Charlie Falconer said vandalising aircraft at RAF Brize Norton would not solely provide legal justification for proscribing the group.
Asked whether the group’s actions were commensurate with proscription, Lord Falconer told Sky News’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “I am not aware of what Palestine Action has done beyond the painting of things on the planes in Brize Norton, they may have done other things I didn’t know.
“But generally, that sort of demonstration wouldn’t justify proscription so there must be something else that I don’t know about.”
Former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf said the Government was “abusing” anti-terror laws against pro-Palestine activists, as tens of thousands of protesters marched in London on Saturday.
Belonging to or expressing support for a proscribed organisation, along with a number of other actions, are criminal offences carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) welcomed the news that Ms Cooper intended to proscribe Palestine Action, saying: “Nobody should be surprised that those who vandalised Jewish premises with impunity have now been emboldened to sabotage RAF jets.”
Former home secretary Suella Braverman also said it was “absolutely the correct decision”.
A pro-Palestine protester at Saturday’s march in central London said it was “absolutely horrendous” that the Government was preparing to ban Palestine Action.
Artist Hannah Woodhouse, 61, told the PA news agency: “Counter-terrorism measures, it seems, are being used against non-violent peace protesters.
“The peace activists are trying to do the Government’s job, which is to disarm Israel.”
Palestine Action has staged a series of demonstrations in recent months, including spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalising Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course .
