- Post author:dizzy
- Post published:16 July 2025
- Post category:crap pretend Labour/Fascism/genocide/human rights violations/Israel/Labour Party/Palestine/politics/Zionism
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More than 70 arrested at protests against Palestine Action ban
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/more-70-arrested-protests-against-palestine-action-ban
Police officers remove a person after they took part in a protest in Parliament Square, London, to call for de-proscription of Palestine Action, July 12, 2025MORE than 70 people were arrested on Saturday during protests demanding the reversal of a ban on Palestine Action.
Demonstrators held signs reading, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” despite warnings from police that public displays of support could violate terrorism legislation.
Police made 42 arrests in London, 13 in Cardiff, 16 in Manchester and one in Leeds.
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Another protester in London, Kris Welch, a retired special educational needs co-ordinator, said: “My father was in the Polish resistance and wanted by the Nazis and Russians.
“I grew up with the knowledge that there are some lines that cannot be crossed, and people have to stand up, whatever the consequences to them personally.
“I cannot stand by when a genocide is taking place, I cannot stand by while those who want to stop the genocide are branded as terrorists, and I cannot stand by while my government is actively complicit in the Palestinian genocide.”
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Article continues
Charlotte Church joins unions and campaigners in opposing ban on Palestine Action
Letter calls group’s proscription under anti-terrorism laws ‘major assault on our freedoms’
The singer Charlotte Church and veteran peace campaigners are among hundreds who have signed a letter describing the move to ban the group Palestine Action as “a major assault on our freedoms”.
Trade unionists, activists and politicians have also added their names to the letter opposing the group’s proscription under anti-terrorism laws last week.
Church said: “I sign this letter because history shows us that when people stand up to injustice, those in power often reach for the same old playbook: label dissent as dangerous, criminalise protest, and try to silence movements for change by branding them as extremists or terrorists.
“From the suffragettes to the civil rights movement, what was once condemned as radical disruption is now celebrated as moral courage. We must remember this pattern – and refuse to let our rights be eroded by fear. This is not new, and we will not be silenced.”
“By signing this letter I am not inviting support for any proscribed organisation – people can make their own minds up – but I am making a clear and strong stand against the abuse and misuse of terrorism laws to malign direct action protest.”
A ban on Palestine Action, which uses direct action to mainly target Israeli weapons factories in the UK and their supply chain, was voted through by parliament this month. Being a member of, or showing support for the group is now a criminal offence after a last-minute legal challenge to suspend the group’s proscription failed.
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Guardian article continues
Dozens More ‘I Support Palestine Action’ Protesters Arrested
https://novaramedia.com/2025/07/12/dozens-more-i-support-palestine-action-protesters-arrested
‘We will not be deterred from opposing genocide.’
For the second week running, demonstrators were arrested for holding signs reading ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action’ in Parliament Square today, with others expected to take part in later actions across the UK.
Expressing public support for Palestine Action is now a criminal offence under the Terrorism Act following the group’s proscription by home secretary Yvette Cooper. It is the first time anti-terror law, designed to ban groups like Al Qaida and Isis, has been used to designate a domestic, non-violent direct action group a terrorist organisation.
The action, organised by Defend Our Juries, aims to challenge that proscription. Further such actions are set to take place in Bristol, Manchester and Cardiff. An independently organised demonstration is also being held in Derry, and one man took ‘solo action’ by posing with a sign in the market town of Kendal in Cumbria.
Bill, a 76-year-old university lecturer, told Novara Media he was participating in the London action because he disagreed “with this government’s definition of a terrorist”. “I might as well call you a red bell pepper, and now you have all the legal rights of a red bell pepper,” he said. Asked how he felt about the prospect of a charge under the terrorism act, he replied, “it’s all an adventure.”
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Article continues at https://novaramedia.com/2025/07/12/dozens-more-i-support-palestine-action-protesters-arrested
How government used media to claim Iran ‘link’ to Palestine Action
https://www.declassifieduk.org/how-government-used-media-to-claim-iran-link-to-palestine-action
The Home Office briefed the Times that Palestine Action could be funded by Iran, and then UK media kicked into action spreading the story.
The proscription of Palestine Action took place alongside claims made in sections of the British media that the group could have been funded by Iran.
On the same day, 23 June, that home secretary Yvette Cooper formally announced to parliament she would proscribe the group, the Times published a report saying “Iran could be funding Palestine Action, Home Office officials claimed”.
It added: “Officials are understood to be investigating its source of donations amid concerns that the Iranian regime, via proxies, is funding the group’s activities given that their objectives are aligned”.
The Times provided no quotes from Home Office officials or any evidence of Iranian funding to Palestine Action.
The same day, the paper published another article, stating: “Support for the group [Palestine Action] from campaigns with alleged links to Iran has fuelled concerns it is unwittingly and covertly being funded by Tehran. It received backing yesterday by a group described in a government report as ‘aligned with the Iranian regime’”.
This referred to the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), a pro-Iranian UK-based NGO which had posted on X: “We stand in solidarity with our comrades PalestineAction!”
The Times noted that the IHRC was described in a 2023 government review of the Prevent counter-extremism programme as an “Islamist group ideologically aligned with the Iranian regime, that has a history of ‘extremist links and terrorist sympathies’”.
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https://www.declassifieduk.org/how-government-used-media-to-claim-iran-link-to-palestine-action