police

Nine arrested in police crackdown on Youth Demand

Spread the love

A Youth Demand welcome talk and a number of houses were raided last night and this morning. Nine people, including one attending their first meeting and a journalist were arrested.

Over 30 Metropolitan Police officers raided the Youth Demand Welcome Talk at the Quaker Meeting House in Westminster at 7.30p.m. yesterday. Six arrests were made including one attending their first ever welcome talk and a journalist. Three people were released in the early hours of the morning while three remain in custody. Police said that the arrests were for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.

In a separate incident at around 8:00a.m. this morning Youth Demand supporter Eddie Whittingham​ was arrested at his house in Exeter but was released without charge. Two other supporters were arrested at unknown locations. The situation is ongoing.

The Welcome Talk is an opportunity to share information about the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank and about the mass killing that is being imposed on vulnerable people across the globe as a result of the accelerating climate crisis. It is also an opportunity to share plans for non-violent civil resistance actions to take place in April.

One of those arrested last night and released this morning was Ella Grace-Taylor, 20, an actor musician student said:

“At this point, it couldn’t be clearer that we are in a police state. Our politicians will stand by as police engage in mass arrests and imprisonment of anyone who speaks out against the government for being responsible for genocide. By arming Israel and refusing to call what is happening a genocide, they are perpetrating mass slaughter.  Hundreds of children were killed in Palestine in the last week. We won’t stop saying it. We won’t be intimidated.”

A Youth Demand spokesperson said:

“It’s clear that the government sees Youth Demand as a threat. They know that we are right.  There are thousands of young people who are horrified by what the government is doing to facilitate genocide and who know that they have been betrayed as their future is fucked. We will not be silenced. Young people all over the country are coming together to shut London down day after day throughout April. Sign up for action at youthdemand.org “

Youth Demand campaign on the climate crisis and Israeli genocide.

Continue ReadingNine arrested in police crackdown on Youth Demand

Labour held secret meeting with top Israeli arms firm

Spread the love

https://www.declassifieduk.org/labour-held-secret-meeting-with-top-israeli-arms-firm

Keir Starmer with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. (Photo: Benjamin Cremel / Alamy)

DECLASSIFIED UK Exclusive: Home Office met with Elbit Systems amid crackdown on Palestine Action, documents reveal.

Keir Starmer’s government held a private meeting with Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company, Declassified has found.

The meeting occurred in December 2024 and was attended by three representatives from Elbit Systems and three officials from Yvette Cooper’s Home Office.

It took place months after Israeli forces used an Elbit drone to kill three British military veterans in Gaza who were protecting a humanitarian aid convoy.

The revelation comes in documents obtained by Declassified through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

Under the previous Conservative government, the Home Office also met with Elbit Systems and attempted to encourage the UK police to crack down on pro-Palestine activism.

Elbit’s efforts to counter Palestine Action in Britain seem to have gone even further. 

Documents seen by Declassified reveal the company has its own “intelligence cell” and shares “information with the [UK] police across the country on a two weekly basis”.

The Home Office is refusing to release details about its most recent meeting with Elbit Systems, including which officials were present and what was discussed. 

It said that a recording of the meeting was made “but by mutual agreement [with Elbit] this was agreed… not to be released” through FOI.

Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori told Declassified: “There is clear evidence of collusion between government, prosecutors, police, the Israeli government and Elbit Systems in a bid to crackdown on Palestine Action’s relentless direct action campaign. 

“Such collusion likely amounts to political and foreign interference in our judicial system, a potential abuse of process in prosecutions against Palestine Action”.

…

Palestine Action’s Huda Ammori added: “Eighteen Palestine Action prisoners are detained under counter-terrorism powers in an unprecedented crackdown against anti-genocide activists. 

“There must be full transparency of meetings with the government which reference Palestine Action, and an independent investigation into the validity of prosecutions against us, given the evidence of judicial interference”.

The Home Office and Elbit did not respond to a request for comment.

https://www.declassifieduk.org/labour-held-secret-meeting-with-top-israeli-arms-firm

Keir Starmer confirms that his government is cnutier than Suella Braverman on killing the right to protest.
Keir Starmer confirms that his government is cnutier than Suella Braverman on killing the right to protest.
Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Continue ReadingLabour held secret meeting with top Israeli arms firm

Britain returning to ‘bad old days’ of the Birmingham Six

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/britain-returning-to-bad-old-days-of-the-birmingham-six

Photo: Andy Aitchison

BRITAIN has returned to the “bad old days” of the Birmingham Six, with corrupt judges and police swapping Irish people for black and Muslim communities, top defence lawyers have said.

Fifty years on, the lessons from that monumental miscarriage of justice have “all been eroded” with senior judges back to pushing for guilty verdicts, an anniversary event in Parliament heard.

Renowned solicitor for the six men wrongly convicted of the 1974 terrorist pub bombing, Gareth Peirce, warned “frightening signals” by the Court of Appeal since their sensational 1991 acquittals have led to the “self-imposed censorship” of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) watchdog.

She described how police and prosecutors have found “endlessly innovative” ways to subvert laws which were originally passed to prevent the state framing innocent people for terrorist attacks during the Troubles.

Ms Peirce said the “halcyon” days following the Court of Appeal’s quashing of those wrongful convictions, based on false confessions through police brutality, were over.

“The authorities can distort science in just the same way,” she told MPs, lawyers, victims and campaigners on Thursday.

…

“Individuals from communities that have different customs, different faiths, different ways of looking at things — it’s easy to distort those and present to a jury.”

She added: “The experience I and others have had are of ‘back to the bad old days’ of judges helping to push a guilty verdict in these kinds of cases.

“The Court of Appeal isn’t as it once was, in its mind to the possiblity of quashing convictions.

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/britain-returning-to-bad-old-days-of-the-birmingham-six

Continue ReadingBritain returning to ‘bad old days’ of the Birmingham Six

Changes to law would give police ‘licence to kill’, UK rights groups warn

Spread the love

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/09/changes-to-law-armed-police-uk-accountability-review

Later this year, new laws will be introduced giving anonymity to firearms officers who shoot someone, unless they are convicted. Photograph: Grant Rooney Premium/Alamy

Review into accountability soon to report as police seek greater protection from prosecution over use of force

Police want changes to the law giving them “a licence to kill”, leading rights groups have warned as the government prepares to give officers new protections from prosecution.

A government-ordered review into police accountability is expected to report within weeks. It followed fears of a walkout by angry armed officers in London after a police marksman, Martyn Blake, was tried for murder over the shooting of Chris Kaba. Blake was acquitted in October by a jury in three hours.

Police say they want the system to be fairer and protect officers who use force as part of their duties. Rights groups believe the system holding police to account is already too weak, and diluting it would “undermine public trust”.

In a letter seen by the Guardian, groups including Inquest, the Centre for Women’s Justice, Liberty and Black Lives Matter warn the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, against weakening police accountability.

“This review is less a kneejerk reaction but rather a dangerous and calculated attempt to use a high-profile case to push for less scrutiny and accountability of police actions,” they said.

“The number of cases where police officers are prosecuted for a death is vanishingly small (since 1990 there has only been one successful prosecution of an officer for manslaughter and none for murder).

…

Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/09/changes-to-law-armed-police-uk-accountability-review

Continue ReadingChanges to law would give police ‘licence to kill’, UK rights groups warn

Over 40 legal experts demand probe into Met’s policing of Palestine demonstration

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/over-40-legal-experts-demand-probe-mets-policing-palestine-demonstration

Police officers at a national march for Palestine in central London, January 18, 2025

OVER 40 legal experts have signed a letter to the Home Secretary demanding an independent investigation into the Met’s policing of London’s pro-Palestine protest at the weekend.

Saturday’s rally was met with a heavy-handed police presence which saw the arrest of 77 protesters — the most at any national demonstration for Palestine.

…

Organisers said there were a “series of complex restrictions” preventing people from assembling at Whitehall at various times, which resulted in arrests on “ flimsy pretexts including simply for inadvertently standing in this central area at the wrong time.”

The Met claims that protesters broke through police lines in a co-ordinated effort to breach the conditions.

But protest organisers backed by video footage contest this, stating that a small delegation, including an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, who were seeking permission to lay flowers, were invited through.

Among those arrested was Stop the War’s Chris Nineham, chief steward of the protest, who has since been banned from attending demonstrations as part of his bail conditions.

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign which helped organise the protest, was also subsequently charged with offences under the Public Order Act.

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/over-40-legal-experts-demand-probe-mets-policing-palestine-demonstration

Continue ReadingOver 40 legal experts demand probe into Met’s policing of Palestine demonstration