BEING PRO PALESTIBE IS NEITHER ANTI-SEMITIC NOR PRO TERRORISM
By AFP
August 9, 2025
Activist group Palestine Action has been proscribed under Britain's Terrorism Act - Copyright AFP HENRY NICHOLLS
Alexandra DEL PERAL
Police in London arrested at least 200 people Saturday for supporting Palestine Action at the latest and largest protest backing the group since the government banned it last month under anti-terror laws.
The UK capital’s Metropolitan Police said it expected to make further arrests at the demonstration in Parliament Square, as organisers claimed only a “fraction” of the hundreds who turned out had been detained.
“That claim simply isn’t true,” the Met said in a statement, noting some of those there were onlookers or not visibly supporting Palestine Action.
“We are confident that anyone who came to Parliament Square today to hold a placard expressing support for Palestine Action was either arrested or is in the process of being arrested.”
The government banned the group days after several of its activists broke into an air force base in southern England, causing an estimated £7 million ($9.3 million) of damage to two aircraft.
Britain’s interior ministry reiterated ahead of Saturday’s protests that its members were also suspected of other “serious attacks” that involved “violence, significant injuries and extensive criminal damage”.
But critics, including the United Nations and NGOs like Amnesty International and Greenpeace, have lambasted the move as legal overreach and a threat to free speech.
– ‘Unprecedented’ –
A group called Defend our Juries, which organised Saturday’s protests and previous demonstrations against the ban, said “unprecedented numbers” had risked “arrest and possible imprisonment” to “defend this country’s ancient liberties”.
“We will keep going. Our numbers are already growing for the next wave of action in September,” it added.
Attendees began massing near parliament at lunchtime bearing signs saying “oppose genocide, support Palestine Action” and other slogans, and waving Palestinian flags.
Psychotherapist Craig Bell, 39, was among those holding a placard.
He branded the ban “absolutely ridiculous”.
“When you compare Palestine Action with an actual terrorist group who are killing civilians and taking lives, it’s just a joke that they’re being prescribed a terrorist group,” he told AFP.
As police moved in on the demonstrators, they applauded those being arrested and shouted “shame on you” at officers.
“Let them arrest us all,” said Richard Bull, 42, a wheelchair-user in attendance.
“This government has gone too far. I have nothing to feel ashamed of.”
– NGOs opposed –
London’s Met Police and other UK forces have made scores of similar arrests on previous weekends since the government outlawed Palestine Action on July 5.
Anyone expressing support for a proscribed group risks arrest under UK anti-terror laws.
Police announced this week that the first three people had been charged in the English and Welsh criminal justice system with supporting Palestine Action following their arrests at a July 5 demo.
Being a member or supporting the group is now a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Seven people have so far been charged in Scotland, which has a separate legal system.
Amnesty International UK Chief Executive Sacha Deshmukh wrote to Met Police chief Mark Rowley this week urging restraint be exercised when policing people holding placards expressing support for Palestine Action.
The NGO has argued arrests of such people are in breach of international human rights law.
A UK court challenge against the decision to proscribe Palestine Action will be heard later this year.
Hundreds Arrested In London for Opposing Ban on Nonviolent Group Palestine Action
"Let us be under no illusion," said one organizer. "The government is criminalizing the people of Britain for standing up against the biggest genocide of the 21st century, as it's livestreamed from Gaza."
Police officers make an arrest at a "Lift The Ban" demonstration in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action in Parliament Square on August 9, 2025.
(Photo: Chris J. Ratcliffe/AFP)
Julia Conley
Aug 09, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
British campaigners reported Saturday that the sheer volume of people who showed up in London's Parliament Square to support the nonviolent advocacy group Palestine Action presented a major challenge for the Metropolitan Police, who had threatened to arrest anyone supporting the organization.
The campaign group Defend Our Juries reported that as of 4:00 pm local time, at least 200 people had been arrested for joining the protest, where more than 1,000 sat silently in the square with many displaying signs that read: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action."
Others held signs reading, "Is this why you joined the police?" as officers arrested demonstrators including National Health Service workers; a blind man using a wheelchair; author Jonathon Porritt; and former Guantánamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg, who now advocates for wrongly-imprisoned people swept up in the War on Terror.
"The fact that unprecedented numbers came out today risking arrest and possible imprisonment, shows how repulsed and ashamed people are about our government's ongoing complicity in a livestreamed genocide, and the lengths people are prepared to go to defend this country's ancient liberties," said a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries, which also organized a protest last month where more than two dozen people were arrested.
The protests have been held to demand that the government reverse its June decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organization after it vandalized two military airplanes. The ban on the organization means that anyone who publicly supports Palestine Action risks up to 14 years in prison.
Palestine Action was formed in 2020 to demand an end to Israeli apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories including Gaza and the West Bank. It has organized nonviolent actions since Israel began bombarding Gaza and blockading nearly all humanitarian aid in October 2023—killing more than 61,000 Palestinians, injuring more than 150,000, creating the largest per capita population of child amputees in the world, and starving at least 212 people so far.
"Palestine Action and people holding cardboard signs present no danger to the public at large, whereas the people who have lobbied for this ban—the arms companies and Israel lobbies—have the blood of 60,000 Palestinians on their hands," said Defend Our Juries.
The government's ban, announced by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, faces a legal challenge scheduled to be heard by the U.K. High Court in November. The court granted a full judicial review to Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori.
United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk warned last month that the U.K.'s proscription of the group "is at odds with the U.K.'s obligations under international human rights law" and noted that "according to international standards, terrorist acts should be confined to criminal acts intended to cause death or serious injury or to the taking of hostages"—not property damage.
Defend Our Juries said the mass arrest of Palestinian rights advocates is taking place as Britain continues to provide support to the Israeli military, which is moving towards a full takeover of Gaza under the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"They're being arrested for holding signs in opposition to genocide and the ban of Palestine Action," said the group as hundreds of people were carried away from Parliament Square by Metropolitan Police. "Meanwhile, the ones enabling the mass murder of Palestinians face no consequences."
Support from civil society groups for Palestine Action and the organizations demanding a reversal of the ban grew this past week ahead of the protest. More than 300 Jewish Britons including film director Mike Leigh; children's author Michael Rosen; and Geoffrey Bindman, a former legal instructor to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, calling the ban "illegitimate" in a letter to Downing Street.
"The government should stop deflecting attention from genocide by linking nonviolent protest to terrorism," read the letter.
Begg noted Saturday that "historically, civil disobedience has been employed in this country, as well as by the American civil rights movement and the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, to challenge unjust and oppressive laws."
"This action is not about Palestine Action, but wider issues of how anti-terror legislation curtails basic freedoms and undermines the rule of law," he said. "There can be no doubt that such laws have been, and continue to be abused and exploited, to suppress free speech and put in place an oppressive infrastructure that represents a danger to our civil liberties."
"In such moments, all those who resist are acting in the public interest and are motivated by the desire to protect fundamental principles of fairness, equality, and justice," he added. "How can it be a crime to call for an end to apartheid and genocide? The planned action on August 9 is motivated by the highest moral principles that have underpinned our society and made it the envy of the world."
"Let us be under no illusion," said Begg. "The government is criminalizing the people of Britain for standing up against the biggest genocide of the 21st century, as it's livestreamed from Gaza. That is why it must be opposed."
"Let us be under no illusion," said one organizer. "The government is criminalizing the people of Britain for standing up against the biggest genocide of the 21st century, as it's livestreamed from Gaza."
Police officers make an arrest at a "Lift The Ban" demonstration in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action in Parliament Square on August 9, 2025.
(Photo: Chris J. Ratcliffe/AFP)
Julia Conley
Aug 09, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
British campaigners reported Saturday that the sheer volume of people who showed up in London's Parliament Square to support the nonviolent advocacy group Palestine Action presented a major challenge for the Metropolitan Police, who had threatened to arrest anyone supporting the organization.
The campaign group Defend Our Juries reported that as of 4:00 pm local time, at least 200 people had been arrested for joining the protest, where more than 1,000 sat silently in the square with many displaying signs that read: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action."
Others held signs reading, "Is this why you joined the police?" as officers arrested demonstrators including National Health Service workers; a blind man using a wheelchair; author Jonathon Porritt; and former Guantánamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg, who now advocates for wrongly-imprisoned people swept up in the War on Terror.
"The fact that unprecedented numbers came out today risking arrest and possible imprisonment, shows how repulsed and ashamed people are about our government's ongoing complicity in a livestreamed genocide, and the lengths people are prepared to go to defend this country's ancient liberties," said a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries, which also organized a protest last month where more than two dozen people were arrested.
The protests have been held to demand that the government reverse its June decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organization after it vandalized two military airplanes. The ban on the organization means that anyone who publicly supports Palestine Action risks up to 14 years in prison.
Palestine Action was formed in 2020 to demand an end to Israeli apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories including Gaza and the West Bank. It has organized nonviolent actions since Israel began bombarding Gaza and blockading nearly all humanitarian aid in October 2023—killing more than 61,000 Palestinians, injuring more than 150,000, creating the largest per capita population of child amputees in the world, and starving at least 212 people so far.
"Palestine Action and people holding cardboard signs present no danger to the public at large, whereas the people who have lobbied for this ban—the arms companies and Israel lobbies—have the blood of 60,000 Palestinians on their hands," said Defend Our Juries.
The government's ban, announced by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, faces a legal challenge scheduled to be heard by the U.K. High Court in November. The court granted a full judicial review to Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori.
United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk warned last month that the U.K.'s proscription of the group "is at odds with the U.K.'s obligations under international human rights law" and noted that "according to international standards, terrorist acts should be confined to criminal acts intended to cause death or serious injury or to the taking of hostages"—not property damage.
Defend Our Juries said the mass arrest of Palestinian rights advocates is taking place as Britain continues to provide support to the Israeli military, which is moving towards a full takeover of Gaza under the orders of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"They're being arrested for holding signs in opposition to genocide and the ban of Palestine Action," said the group as hundreds of people were carried away from Parliament Square by Metropolitan Police. "Meanwhile, the ones enabling the mass murder of Palestinians face no consequences."
Support from civil society groups for Palestine Action and the organizations demanding a reversal of the ban grew this past week ahead of the protest. More than 300 Jewish Britons including film director Mike Leigh; children's author Michael Rosen; and Geoffrey Bindman, a former legal instructor to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, calling the ban "illegitimate" in a letter to Downing Street.
"The government should stop deflecting attention from genocide by linking nonviolent protest to terrorism," read the letter.
Begg noted Saturday that "historically, civil disobedience has been employed in this country, as well as by the American civil rights movement and the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, to challenge unjust and oppressive laws."
"This action is not about Palestine Action, but wider issues of how anti-terror legislation curtails basic freedoms and undermines the rule of law," he said. "There can be no doubt that such laws have been, and continue to be abused and exploited, to suppress free speech and put in place an oppressive infrastructure that represents a danger to our civil liberties."
"In such moments, all those who resist are acting in the public interest and are motivated by the desire to protect fundamental principles of fairness, equality, and justice," he added. "How can it be a crime to call for an end to apartheid and genocide? The planned action on August 9 is motivated by the highest moral principles that have underpinned our society and made it the envy of the world."
"Let us be under no illusion," said Begg. "The government is criminalizing the people of Britain for standing up against the biggest genocide of the 21st century, as it's livestreamed from Gaza. That is why it must be opposed."
After Initial Arrests, As Many As 1,000 Ready to Defend Palestine Action in London Saturday
"There's now a risk of unprecedented mass arrest of protesters shredding this country's reputation for tolerance and civil liberties," said one member of Parliament.
A specialist police officer surveys a huge banner in support of Palestine Action before taking it down in London on July 22, 2025.
(Photo: Lab Mo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
"There's now a risk of unprecedented mass arrest of protesters shredding this country's reputation for tolerance and civil liberties," said one member of Parliament.
A specialist police officer surveys a huge banner in support of Palestine Action before taking it down in London on July 22, 2025.
(Photo: Lab Mo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Julia Conley
Aug 08, 2025
After police in London arrested more than two dozen people last month for publicly expressing support for the nonviolent direct action group Palestine Action, hundreds more have signaled they won't be intimidated by the U.K. ban on protesting on behalf of the organization—committing to risk arrest at another demonstration scheduled for Saturday.
The group Defend Our Juries (DOJ) said this week that as many as 1,000 people have signed up to participate in a rally in Parliament Square to demand the government reverse its decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group, which it announced in June.
DOJ said it would move forward with the event if at least 500 people committed to showing up.
Under Section 3 of the Terrorism Act of 2000, the House of Commons voted 385-26 last month in favor of banning Palestine Action, and the House of Lords approved the move without a vote.
The law dictates that joining or supporting the group, which is nonviolent and has been accused of vandalizing planes at a military base, is akin to supporting violent armed groups including al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Those who support Palestine Action can face up to 14 years in prison.
On Thursday, three people were formally charged for allegedly showing support for a terrorist group, following their attendance at last month's protest where they demanded the terrorist designation be rescinded.
The Metropolitan Police said Friday that it plans to make mass arrests at the Parliament Square protest planned for Saturday.
As they did in July, supporters plan to display signs reading: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action."
John McDonnell, a member of Parliament for the Labour Party, said he had asked Home Secretary Yvette Cooper "what guidance had been given" to police by Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government, and had not received an answer.
Ahead of the planned protest, said McDonnell, "there's now a risk of unprecedented mass arrest of protesters shredding this country's reputation for tolerance and civil liberties."
Aug 08, 2025
After police in London arrested more than two dozen people last month for publicly expressing support for the nonviolent direct action group Palestine Action, hundreds more have signaled they won't be intimidated by the U.K. ban on protesting on behalf of the organization—committing to risk arrest at another demonstration scheduled for Saturday.
The group Defend Our Juries (DOJ) said this week that as many as 1,000 people have signed up to participate in a rally in Parliament Square to demand the government reverse its decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group, which it announced in June.
DOJ said it would move forward with the event if at least 500 people committed to showing up.
Under Section 3 of the Terrorism Act of 2000, the House of Commons voted 385-26 last month in favor of banning Palestine Action, and the House of Lords approved the move without a vote.
The law dictates that joining or supporting the group, which is nonviolent and has been accused of vandalizing planes at a military base, is akin to supporting violent armed groups including al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Those who support Palestine Action can face up to 14 years in prison.
On Thursday, three people were formally charged for allegedly showing support for a terrorist group, following their attendance at last month's protest where they demanded the terrorist designation be rescinded.
The Metropolitan Police said Friday that it plans to make mass arrests at the Parliament Square protest planned for Saturday.
As they did in July, supporters plan to display signs reading: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action."
John McDonnell, a member of Parliament for the Labour Party, said he had asked Home Secretary Yvette Cooper "what guidance had been given" to police by Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government, and had not received an answer.
Ahead of the planned protest, said McDonnell, "there's now a risk of unprecedented mass arrest of protesters shredding this country's reputation for tolerance and civil liberties."
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