Over 250 people took action today (Saturday 29 November) against our government’s complicity in genocide and against the ban on Palestine Action in ten towns and cities across the UK. They were all peacefully holding signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”.

Yet police only arrested 164 of them as police forces in Edinburgh and Exeter decided not to make arrests of the 55 and 35 sitters there respectively.

Today’s action brings the total of arrests to 636 in the ‘most widespread wave of civil disobedience in modern UK history’ with many more people sitting with signs that police failed to arrest. This brings the total number of Lift The Ban sign-holding arrests since the proscription to 2717.

The day of action come in the middle of the Judicial Review – which is now due to end on Tuesday 2 December – and which has been plagued by allegations of a last minute ‘stitch up’. It also comes as a second hunger striker is hospitalised and as the genocide continues in Gaza with Isreal killing at least 345 Palestinians and wounding 889 since the “ceasefire”.

The Lift The Ban actions started at 1pm and the number of sitters and arrests in each town were as follows according to on the ground observers:

📍31 – Bristol
📍25 – Birmingham
📍0 of 35 – Exeter
📍15 of 16 – Cambridge
📍18 – Sheffield
📍26 – Lancaster
📍0 of 55 – Edinburgh
📍8 – Caerdydd (Cardiff)
📍31 – Manchester
📍10 – Norwich
📍2 – Newport (Gwent)
📍2 – Presteigne

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said

“Yet again the ban has proven unenforceable, with police forces in Belfast, Derry, Edinburgh, Totnes and now Exeter choosing not to arrest peaceful sign-holders under ‘terror’ laws, while other forces have given up making arrests half way through.

“This historic wave of action has seen people of courage and conscience taking action to resist the government’s clampdown on our fundamental rights to protest and free speech.

“In the face of our government’s steadfast support for Israel as it carried out crimes against humanity, collective punishment and genocide, Palestine Action were the one group who made a material impact by hitting the profits of companies supplying hardware to Israel’s killing machine.

“In court this week the government has had to try and defend the proportionality of the ban. Yet it hasn’t been able to offer any argument that proscription was in the public interest. Repeated statements by government barristers make it clear that it was simply to protect the profits of arms companies.

“The ban was never in the public interest as Palestine Action never posed any threat to the public. Conflating property damage with terrorism, as the Terrorism Act 2000 does, is an insult to everyone who has lost loved ones through acts of genuine terror.

“The proscription of Palestine Action was an act of authoritarian overreach whose only purpose was to protect Israel, the arms companies supplying its genocide, and the government ministers who have been so shamefully complicit in that genocide.”

UPDATE ON THE JUDICIAL REVIEW

Avaaz launched a petition yesterday demanding an explanation from Justice Secretary David Lammy MP as to why the judge overseeing the case was removed just days before it was about to begin. The last minute switch has meant that the Judicial Review has been dogged by allegations of a ‘stitch-up’ with questions about the suitability and independence of the three replacement judges demanding to be answered. A former British ambassador suggested the result had been to “load the dice for Israel”.

On the opening day of the Judicial Review, Raza Husain KC, representing Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, noted that the group was the “first direct-action civil disobedience organisation that does not advocate for violence ever to be proscribed as terrorist.” He said the ban was an “ill-considered, discriminatory, due process-lacking, authoritarian abuse of statutory power … that is alien to the basic tradition of common law and the European Convention on Human Rights.” Defend Our Juries’ Lift The Ban campaign was cited as evidence of mass civil society disagreement with the proscription.

Intervening in the Judicial Review, United Nations Special Rapporteur Ben Saul warned the ban makes the UK “out of step with comparable liberal democracies” and “sets a precedent” for further crackdown on other protest movements in the UK such as climate protesters. Amnesty International UK said it represented a substantial departure from established responses to protest movements which use direct action tactics and that it breached our fundamental rights to protest and free speech. Liberty argued the ban was disproportionate because counter-terror powers have historically been directed at groups whose modus operandi includes intentional violence against people

Best-selling author Sally Rooney told the hearing how she might no longer be able to sell or publish her books in the UK due to her support for Palestine Action. The court also heard how Keir Starmer discussed Palestine Action with Donald Trump in two phone calls before the ban after Palestine Action painted “Gaza is not for sale” on his golf course in Scotland.

The Judicial Review concludes on Tuesday 2 December when the government will present part of its defence using the secret court system known as Closed Material Procedure which has come under criticism for allowing evidence to be presented without challenge and has been described as being a system “in meltdown”. A judgement will be given at a later date. Skeleton arguments for the applicant are available on request.

SECOND HUNGER STRIKER HOSPITALISED

28 prisoners are currently being held in UK prisons without trial for allegedly taking part in actions claimed by Palestine Action known as the Filton 24 and the Brize Norton 5. Most will be held for two years without trial – exceeding the six month pre-trial custody limit – because the Crown Prosecution Service is claiming there is a “terrorist connection” on the basis of criminal damage. However no charges have been brought under the Terrorism Act against these prisoners and the actions took place before Palestine Action was proscribed by the government.

Six prisoners are now on a rolling hunger strike, some will today enter their fifth week. The hunger strike started on Saturday 2nd November – Balfour Day – with two people after the Home Secretary failed to respond to their demands including immediate bail, access to documents necessary for the right to a fair trial and the de-proscription of Palestine Action. The strike is “rolling” because more people continue to join the strike as their demands remain unmet. The conditions of their detention have been criticised by UN experts in a letter to the UK government.

It was revealed yesterday that Teuta ‘T’ Hoxha is now the second prisoner on hunger strike to be hospitalised. She was moved to the healthcare wing on Thursday, due to her rapidly deteriorating health after 20 days on hunger strike. Kamran Ahmed was hospitalised on Tuesday after collapsing on Friday 21 November.

In August of this year T Hoxa of the Filton 24 went on hunger strike for 28 days, eventually winning most of her demands. For more information on the hunger strikers see Prisoners for Palestine.

NOVEMBER WAVE OF ACTIONS

The November wave of action has seen 636 people in ten towns and cities arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 for peacefully holding cardboard signs.

Across the UK the ban has been shown unnecessary and unenforceable as police forces in Derry, Belfast, Edinburgh and Exetert chose not to make arrests, while several local police forces in England and Wales were overwhelmed and gave up on arresting everyone.

On Wednesday 26 November, police confirmed 143 arrests outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the first day of the Judicial Review.

On Monday 24 November, around 50 people were arrested outside the Home Office where Yvette Cooper made her ill-fated decision to proscribe Palestine Action. Met Police have not publicly released a number of arrests for the action.

On Saturday 22 November, Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) made no arrests of 21 people in Derry and 20 in Belfast who held the same signs as people in a London Peace Garden where the Met Police made “at least 90” arrests for terrorism offences, making a mockery of the proscription.

On Thursday 20 November, police confirmed 47 arrests outside the Ministry of Justice, where the Attorney General resides, who has approved the charges of hundreds of peaceful protestors for terrorist offences despite there being no public interest in doing so.

On Tuesday 18 November, local police forces arrested just 142 of the 237 people who took action in ten cities across the UK. After several hours forces in Aberystwyth, Truro and Oxford confirmed they would not be returning to arrest the remaining sign-holders. Police Scotland made no arrests of the 49 people who took action in Edinburgh. The police therefore failed to arrest 95 sign-holders – a full 40% – showing once again the ban is both unnecessary and unenforceable.