29 people arrested at protest in support of banned Palestine Action
A total of 29 people have been arrested on suspicion of terror offences after protesters gathered in central London to show support for the now proscribed group Palestine Action, police said.
The Metropolitan Police posted on X on Saturday afternoon saying officers were responding to the demonstration in Parliament Square and making arrests.
Palestine Action lost a late-night Court of Appeal challenge on Friday which sought to stop the protest group being banned, less than two hours before the new legislation came into force at midnight.
Terror group
The designation as a terror group means that membership of, or support for, Palestine Action is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The move to ban the organisation was announced after two Voyager aircraft were damaged at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on June 20, an incident claimed by Palestine Action, which police said caused around £7 million of damage.
The force posted on X saying: “Officers are responding to a protest in support of Palestine Action in Parliament Square.
“The group is now proscribed and expressing support for them is a criminal offence. Arrests are being made.
“Further updates will be shared here.”
Offences
The Met later posted: “UPDATE: Officers have arrested more than 20 people on suspicion of offences under the Terrorism Act 2000.
“They have been taken into custody.
“Palestine Action is a proscribed group and officers will act where criminal offences are committed.”
The force posted another update on X on Saturday evening to say 29 arrests had been made and added that they remain in custody.
A group had earlier said it was set to gather in Parliament Square on Saturday holding signs supporting Palestine Action, according to campaign group Defend Our Juries.
In a letter to the Home Secretary, protesters said: “We do not wish to go to prison or to be branded with a terrorism conviction, but we refuse to be cowed into silence by your order.”
Proscription
Leslie Tate, 76, a Green councillor from Hertfordshire, said: “Palestine Action are not a violent organisation, and the proscription is wrong.
“You do know, of course, that they were proscribed by Parliament with two other groups involved – all three at once – so that was a trick to make sure the Bill went through.
“The evidence from their actions that they’ve taken from the start of Palestine Action is that they all have been non-violent.
“This protest is necessary to defend our democracy, and this is the creeping edge of totalitarianism, frankly.
“We thought they (the police) would probably take pictures of people. It’s the obvious thing to do, to photograph them, then they have their identity, rather than make arrests.”
Protesters
Metropolitan Police circled around dozens of protesters standing quietly beneath the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, with placards that said: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”.
Occasional chants of “free Palestine” broke out from the surrounding onlookers, and some criticised the police attending.
The protest started at about 1.10pm and officers were seen taking people away shortly after 1.30pm.
Reverend Sue Parfitt, 83, who was sat in a camp chair with a placards at her feet, appeared to have been taken away by officers.
A woman seen lying on the ground in handcuffs was lifted by officers and put in a police van.
While flanked by a large group of police, she said calmly: “Free Palestine, stop the genocide, I oppose genocide, I support the rights of the Palestinian people, I support freedom of speech, I support freedom of assembly.”
Arrest
Several people crowded around to film the arrest as officers placed the woman in the vehicle parked on the road behind the square, before returning to the Mahatma Gandhi statue, where almost no protesters remained.
Chants of “shame” broke out, directed at the police, most of whom had dispersed by 2.10pm.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action on June 23, stating that the vandalism of the two planes was “disgraceful” and that the group had a “long history of unacceptable criminal damage”.
MPs in the Commons voted 385 to 26, majority 359, in favour of proscribing the group on Wednesday, before the House of Lords backed the move without a vote on Thursday.
Four people – Amy Gardiner-Gibson, 29, Jony Cink, 24, Daniel Jeronymides-Norie, 36, and Lewis Chiaramello, 22 – have all been charged in connection with the incident at RAF Brize Norton.
They appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday after being charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the United Kingdom, and conspiracy to commit criminal damage, under the Criminal Law Act 1977.
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Terror offences. Are they having a laugh? What has happened to this once great kingdom?
It was never a great kingdom. There has always been an undercurrent of brutality about it.
Great Kingdom? The one that invented concentration camps, genocide and continuously stole from other countries and has now made itself the joke of planet earth?
Solidarity with Palestine Action!
Doesn’r that comment make you a terrorist?
Same here.
Yvette Cooper must consider her position. This report does not suggest any violence so what we are left with is arrests made on the basis of the law as it now stands which includes an 83 year old woman of the cloth sitting in a chair. If Cooper thinks this is arrest worthy, there must be a big Police recruitment drive coming if they are expected to arrest and process harmless members of the public with all the paperwork involved. After this, we’ll hear the old chestnut ‘why aren’t you out catching criminals?’ only this time, that’s a good point.
Where was the security?
No one watching the CCTV?
Clark of the Cinque Ports declares war on truth and international justice to hide his and his government’s cowardice and shameful anti-democratic law making…
He is also demonstrating his total lack of a democratic base-line, a mini Twmp in short trousers running scared…
How many people has this uk group murdered vs the IDF?
Who does the UK still arm.
Labour Party = fascist.
I won’t even consider voting for them again.
Agreed
and as a long time Plaid supporter I am lost as to why they did not vote against the proscription of P.A. Abstaining was really unworthy of them. That wasn’t the Plaid vote of 2002 at the outset of our invasion of Iraq – blowing little kids’ arms off and all of that. And now, with this Genocide we have chapter and verse, and camera footage in full technicolour of the ongoing depravity against Palestine..
But – the signs are good that we’ll have something better than all these far right options to vote for by the next election.
Facist no.
Zionist yes.
Lost my vote years ago.
Solidarity