https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/charade-will-be-exposed

Defend Our Juries calls on supporters to skip street bail at next protest against Palestine Action ban

DEFEND our Juries has urged protesters to skip the “charade“ of street bail and withhold their details from police at the next mass demonstration against the Palestine Action ban.

The tactic aims to shift processing from the streets to police stations.

The protest group says the move will make it “practically impossible“ for police to arrest everyone, and opened up sign-ups today for a demonstration in London on September 6. Defend Our Juries said that it would only go ahead if 1,000 people had signed up. Over 2,500 people had already expressed interest in joining before the sign-ups opened.

Demonstrators will hold signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” in protest against the group’s ban following its designation as a terrorist organisation last month.

Membership of or support for the group is now a criminal offence, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Some 522 people were arrested at the last mass protest on August 9.

Defend Our Juries argues that this was only possible due to the use of “street bail,” which denies people access to immediate and free legal advice.

Spokesperson Tim Crosland said that if hundreds insist on their right to legal advice at a police station, “the charade will be exposed,” and it will be harder for officers to arrest all those taking part.

“Any law that is so obviously wrong that it meets mass public opposition quickly becomes unenforceable, as it was with the poll tax in 1990, and the government will have to scrap it,” he said.

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