Protesters celebrate outside the High Court, central London, where Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Swift and Mrs Justice Steyn have ruled in favour of Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori’s challenge over the ban of the organisation as a terror group
THOUSANDS of people are expected to demonstrate against the ban on Palestine Action in central London on Saturday despite police lifting their pause on arresting the sit-down sign-holders.
Protest group Defend Our Juries said the demonstration is to show resistance to the ban, which was ruled unlawful by the High Court in February, “is stronger than ever.”
The 60-minute action will see protesters sit silently holding banners reading “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action” in Trafalgar Square from 1pm.
Last month, the Metropolitan Police announced officers would resume arresting suspected Palestine Action supporters, after the High Court ruled the ban unlawful by allowing it to continue pending the outcome of an appeal by the Home Office.
A Defend Our Juries spokesperson said: “The protest against the proscription of Palestine Action has grown beyond a question of the right to protest.
“The actions of the UK government and police following the High Court’s ruling expose what many have long known: democracy in the UK is on its knees.
…
They added: “This campaign now extends far beyond Palestine Action, beyond Gaza, and beyond the principles of protest and free speech.
“It speaks to a fundamental erosion of the right to dissent and to hold power to account. This is no longer a marginal issue – it concerns everyone who values democratic freedoms.”
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.
City of London Police officers during a raid at a property in London used by a suspected member of a phone snatching gang, February 26, 2026
HUMAN rights organisations are raising the alarm over the government’s plans for policing, warning that forces will not be held to account.
Inquest, Amnesty International, Runnymede and the Centre for Women’s Justice published an open letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood today, calling for her to reconsider plans that will “weaken the public’s ability to scrutinise” police actions.
The plans would legislate to overturn a landmark judgment following the fatal shooting of unarmed Jermaine Baker in 2015, which sets a test for police officers to justify their use of force.
The government now intends to raise the threshold for challenging a police officer’s defence, a move campaigners warn would dramatically reduce the number of cases progressing to misconduct hearings.
The plans also aim to change the law relating to the Maughan case, which concerns the standard of proof required for an unlawful killing conclusion at an inquest.
If the government pushes ahead, it will become even harder for bereaved families and victims to attain accountability, campaigners say.
RENEGADE: Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy on a visit to Downing Street briefing on Monday February 9 2026
AS ONE of the first black MPs elected in post war Britain, Bernie Grant was in the thick of the fight for justice and for his defence of the rights of people, especially young black people, he was extensively traduced and misquoted.
Every year tribute is paid on the anniversary of his election as MP for Tottenham. One tribute described him as an all-round Tottenham legend and pioneering campaigner for social justice and equality.
These words were written by his successor as MP for Tottenham David Lammy — presently justice secretary in Keir Starmer’s Cabinet — who went on to say: “His legacy will never be forgotten.”
It would have been impossible for Lammy to have been selected as Bernie Grant’s successor if the electorate had even the faintest sense that Lammy’s professed admiration for his predecessor hid a rank opportunism that today distinguishes him as perhaps the minister most servile to the imperatives of the Establishment.
We can measure Lammy’s abandonment of such principles as he once espoused by taking a look at his proposals to end jury trials for a huge number of defendants in Britain’s chaotic and underfunded justice system.
The ostensible reason for this drastic diminution of our human right to be judged by our peers is the backlog of cases in the courts system with many cases scheduled for years ahead.
Successive governments have diminished funding for the justice system so that — from the probation service to prisons, from reduced court staffing numbers to cuts in legal aid — the class bias of the legal system, which puts those with limited financial means under pressure to abandon their right to due process, is ever more intense.
But, opinion is hardening that introducing judge-only trials for many criminal cases would further increase the risk of miscarriages of justice.
Lammy proposes limiting jury trials to accusations of rape, murder and certain “public interest” cases. His plan is for most defendants to be tried by a single judge able to pass sentences up to five years in prison.
This is a direct repudiation of the point made just last year by the minister for courts and legal services, Sarah Sackman, who told Parliament: “Let me be clear: jury trials will always be a cornerstone of British justice. This government will do whatever it takes to protect the fundamental right to a fair trial.”
She went on to argue that: “The vast majority of cases in our courts are already heard without juries. Around 90 per cent of all criminal cases are dealt with robustly and fairly by magistrates, with no jury.”
This rather begs the question, what is the necessity to further reduce the role of juries in delivering justice if restoring proper funding could restore the timely delivery of justice?
The answer lies in the recent tendency of juries to take a common sense and principled approach and acquit in cases where citizen action against war and enterprises servicing genocide falls victim to overweening state power.
“Jury trials are fundamental to the justice system … fundamental to our democracy. We must protect them.” These words of Lammy were quoted against him in a parliamentary debate just before Christmas by the then shadow justice secretary who told MPs that Lammy was “plotting to discard centuries of jury trials without so much as a by-your-leave.”
It is a measure of this government’s political disarray that a valid, if cynically hypocritical, criticism of Lammy’s illiberal measure — designed to strengthen the power of the state against its citizens — can be so easily gifted to a right-wing Tory defector who now sits among Boris Johnson’s Cabinet as a Reform UK MP.
Thousands arrested for supporting group since proscription are now in legal limbo as Mahmood says she will appeal
Three senior judges have ruled that the ban on the direct action group Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws was disproportionate and unlawful, handing the home secretary a humiliating defeat.
Shabana Mahmood was urged to respect the court’s decision after the judges said the ban, introduced by her predecessor Yvette Cooper, impinged on the right to protest and should be quashed.
However, the fate of more than 2,500 people, arrested for supporting Palestine Action since proscription, remained in limbo after Mahmood said she would appeal against the ban. Additionally, the three judges, led by the president of the king’s bench division, Dame Victoria Sharp, said the banning order would not be quashed until both sides had been allowed to make representations.
In the meantime, the Met police said they would stop arresting people immediately for showing support for Palestine Action after the high court ruling but would gather evidence for potential future prosecution.
…
The judges allowed the challenge on two of four grounds. They were that there was “a very significant interference” with the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and that the then home secretary, Cooper’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action was not consistent with her own policy, which required her to take into account factors including the nature and scale of the organisation’s activities, and the specific threat that it posed to the UK.
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood during a tour of the Lambeth Central Communications Command Centre, south London, January 22, 2026
CIVIL liberty campaigners pledged to fight plans to roll out facial recognition technology to all police forces across England and Wales.
Overriding concerns, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood claimed that the technology would cut crime, despite often being entirely inaccurate.
Boosting camera vans from 10 to 50, Ms Mahmood claimed: “New technology has the ability to help us go after criminals and bring more people to justice.
…
Liberty slammed the government for announcing the rollout while supposedly still in the midst of a public consultation.
External relations director Ruth Ehrlich said that “rolling out powerful surveillance tools while a consultation is still under way undermines public trust and shows disregard for our fundamental rights,” adding: “The government must halt the rapid rollout of facial recognition technology, ensure safeguards are in place to protect each of us, and prioritise our rights.”
Protesters celebrate outside the High Court, central London, where Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Swift and Mrs Justice Steyn have ruled in favour of Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori’s challenge over the ban of the organisation as a terror group
City of London Police officers during a raid at a property in London used by a suspected member of a phone snatching gang, February 26, 2026
