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UK police arrest protesters after ban on Palestine Action goes into effect

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Police arrest Palestine Action activist during a solidarity protest outside Royal Courts of Justice as co-founder of Palestine Action Huda Ammori takes Home Secretary to High Court over proscription of the group in London, United Kingdom on July 4, 2025. [Tayfun Salci – Anadolu Agency]

Scores of protesters were arrested in London on Saturday after a ban on the group Palestine Action officially came into effect, Anadolu reports.

The UK government will, for the first time, legally redefine a non-violent protest group, Palestine Action, as a terrorist organization after a last-minute legal challenge to suspend the group’s ban under anti-terrorism laws failed at a high court on Friday.

As of this Saturday, membership in, or showing support for, Palestine Action will become a criminal offense in Britain.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed on Saturday afternoon that officers were responding to a demonstration in Parliament Square and had begun making arrests.

READ: AOHR UK calls on British Gov’t to sanction GHF officials

“The group is now proscribed, and expressing support for them is a criminal offense,” the force said in a statement. “Arrests are being made.”

Officers have arrested more than 20 people on suspicion of offenses under the Terrorism Act 2000.

It added: “There are a number of events taking place in London this weekend and anyone attending should be aware that officers policing these will act where criminal offenses, including those related to support of proscribed groups or organizations, are committed.”

MPs overwhelmingly voted in favor of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to proscribe the group under the Terrorism Act 2000 on Wednesday. The House of Lords has also approved the move.

UN experts, civil liberties organizations, cultural figures, and hundreds of lawyers have condemned the ban as “draconian.”

They argue that it sets a dangerous precedent by conflating protest with terrorism.

Palestine Action said it is seeking an “urgent appeal to prevent a dystopian nightmare, which criminalizes thousands of people overnight.”

Another court hearing is scheduled for July 21, when Palestine Action will apply for permission to launch a judicial review in an effort to overturn the order.

Unless the review is successful, being a member of or inviting support for the group that protests Israeli genocide in Gaza will carry a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Meanwhile, pro-Palestine activists disrupted the London Pride parade by covering a float in red paint.

Four protesters from the group Youth Demand targeted a truck belonging to US-based company CISCO, accusing the firm of “genocide” and claiming it has “no place” at the event.

The incident comes less than 24 hours after the protest group Palestine Action was officially banned and designated a terrorist organization.

READ: Palestine Action again targets Israeli defense firm in UK amid risk of being placed on terror list

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Keir "I support Zionism without Qualification" Starmer supporting genocide. — Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting genocide.

UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers. — UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.

Image of the original Fascists Mussolini and Hitler. — The original Fascists Mussolini and Hitler

Post author:dizzy
Post published:6 July 2025
Post category:Angela Rayner crap pretend Labour Fascism genocide human rights violations Israel Labour Party new authoritarianism Palestine Rachel Reeves Yvette Cooper Zionism
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Novara Media: We Oppose the Proscription of Palestine Action

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by Novara Media

1 July 2025

Filippo Marra/Novara Media

The government’s planned proscription of Palestine Action is appalling state overreach. As journalists and media workers, Novara Media unequivocally opposes this historic infringement on freedom of expression in the UK. We believe it is a gross abuse of legislation to equate a non-violent, direct action protest group with the likes of Isis, Al-Qaida, and National Action. Never before in Britain has it been illegal to support a protest group.

We report day after day on Israel’s atrocities in Gaza. We have watched countless hours of footage, heard testimony, and combed through data. It has been evident for many months that Israel’s attacks on the Palestinian population, from opening fire on unarmed crowds at aid distribution points to the bombardment of refugees at so-called safe-zones, amount to the crime of genocide.

Meanwhile, the establishment media remains biased in favour of Israel. Even the BBC, a public service broadcaster, grants 33 times more coverage per fatality to Israeli deaths than those of Palestinians. If there were ever a time when non-violent direct action was justified in the prevention of greater harm, it is now.

Furthermore, we are disgusted by the arrest and investigation of pro-Palestine journalists such as Asa Winstanley, the imposition of excessive restrictions on pro-Palestine rallies, and attacks on the artistic expression of Bob Vylan and Kneecap’s Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh. Novara Media views the proscription of Palestine Action as part of this wider effort to silence opposition to Israel’s campaign of genocide against the people of Gaza.

Everyone should be alarmed by Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper’s decision to designate Palestine Action a proscribed terrorist organisation. The use of terror legislation will dramatically limit what anyone in the UK can say about the group. Section 12 of the Terrorism Act gives the state sweeping power to restrict speech that it deems supportive of proscribed organisations. Wearing a Palestine Action T-shirt, praising the group in public, or expressing a positive opinion about it online could all be grounds for arrest and prosecution.

There is no journalistic exemption to the Terrorism Act. Reporting freely carries the risk of large fines and up to 14 years imprisonment. Journalists arrested under terrorism legislation may have their homes and offices raided, or work devices seized and searched, putting them and their sources at risk.

Novara Media strongly upholds the right to report events and produce fact-based analysis without the interference of the government. We oppose all state attempts to crush legitimate expressions of political opinion. We abhor Keir Starmer’s willingness to clamp down on free speech, dissent, and longstanding traditions of civil disobedience that are vital to democracy and liberty.

Without equivocation or caveat, we stand opposed to the government’s proscription of Palestine Action.

dizzy: Me too.

Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect 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. — Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect 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.

Post author:dizzy
Post published:2 July 2025
Post category:fake manufactured terrorism Fascism genocide human rights violations Israel Keir Starmer Palestine politics we are protecting you from evil terrrists (honest). We're not evilly manipulating your fears Yvette Cooper Zionism
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UK MPs vote to proscribe Palestine Action as terrorist group

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https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/02/uk-mps-vote-to-proscribe-palestine-action-as-terrorist-group

A protest in support of Palestine Action in London last month. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Sopa Images/Shutterstock

Minister argues move will not impinge on people’s right to protest but critics call it ‘grave abuse of state power’

MPs have voted to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation despite concerns that the move could risk criminalising legitimate protest.

The draft order to amend the Terrorism Act 2000 and proscribe the group, laid by the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, passed the Commons on Wednesday by 385 votes to 26.

The order also bans two neo-Nazi groups, the Maniacs Murder Cult (MMC) and the Russia Imperial Movement (RIM).

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It will become a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison for anyone to become a member of and support the direct action of Palestine Action.

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After the vote, a Palestine Action spokesperson said: “We are confident that this unlawful order will be overturned. As United Nations experts have made clear, spraying red paint and disrupting the British-based operations of Israel’s largest weapons firm, Elbit Systems, is not terrorism.

The terrorism and war crimes are being committed by Israel against the Palestinian people – armed and enabled by this government.”

The announcement came as police imposed restrictions on Palestine Solidarity Campaign protests outside parliament.

Before the vote, the lawyers group Network for Police Monitoring and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers had warned the home secretary in two separate letters that proscribing Palestine Action would conflate protest and terrorism. The letters collectively were signed by hundreds of lawyers and by UN experts.

Several UN special rapporteurs said they had contacted the UK government to say that “acts of protest that damage property, but are not intended to kill or injure people, should not be treated as terrorism”.

Last week, Cooper linked Palestine Action with the MMC and the RIM, saying each of them had “passed the threshold for proscription based on clear national security evidence and assessments”. She said: “Violence and serious criminal damage has no place in legitimate protests.”

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See the original article at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jul/02/uk-mps-vote-to-proscribe-palestine-action-as-terrorist-group

Post author:dizzy
Post published:2 July 2025
Post category:crap pretend Labour fake manufactured terrorism Fascism genocide human rights violations Israel Keir Starmer Labour Party Neo-liberalism new authoritarianism Palestine politics terrorism bullshit we are protecting you from evil terrrists (honest). We're not evilly manipulating your fears Yvette Cooper Zionism
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Home Office staff concerned about ‘absurd’ Palestine Action ban, says senior civil servant

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https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/28/home-office-staff-concerned-about-absurd-palestine-action-ban-says-senior-civil-servant

Pro-Palestine demonstrators in London earlier this week after the ban was announced. Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

Anonymous source describes ‘tense atmosphere’ after Yvette Cooper announced plans to proscribe protest group

Home Office staff are concerned about the “absurd” decision to ban Palestine Action under UK anti-terrorism laws, a senior civil servant has said.

On Monday the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced plans to ban the group, which would make membership of it, or inviting support for it, a criminal offence under the Terrorism Act, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

It would be the first time a direct action protest group has been classified as a terrorist organisation, joining the likes of Islamic State, al-Qaida and National Action. The move has been condemned as draconian by many other protest groups, civil society organisations and politicians of different stripes.

A senior Home Office official, who requested anonymity as they are not allowed to speak to the press, said concerns about proscribing Palestine Action extended into the home secretary’s own department.

“My colleagues and I were shocked by the announcement,” they said. “All week, the office has been a very tense atmosphere, charged with concern about treating a non-violent protest group the same as actual terrorist organisations like Isis, and the dangerous precedent this sets.

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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/28/home-office-staff-concerned-about-absurd-palestine-action-ban-says-senior-civil-servant