Metropolitan Police officers observing a protest in central London in support of Palestine Action, organised by the Defend Our Juries group, July 5, 2025
COUNTER-TERRORISM police arrested key members of Defend Our Juries today in “an unprecedented assault on free speech” just hours before the group was due to hold a press conference on an upcoming mass protest against proscribing Palestine Action.
Despite the arrests, the group confirmed that the protest will go ahead on Saturday, having met its target of securing 1,000 pledges to attend.
The protesters will gather in Parliament Square holding signs reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” challenging the police’s ability to crack down on supporters of the proscribed group.
Defend Our Juries founder Tim Crosland and law student Paddy Friend, who were due to speak at the press conference, were among those arrested during dawn raids today.
They were arrested along with three others under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which prohibits support for proscribed organisations.
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A Defend Our Juries spokesperson said: “Locking up our key spokespeople just hours before they were due to hold a press conference announcing more peaceful Lift the Ban protests constitutes an unprecedented assault on free speech in our country.
“This level of political repression is not what we expect in a democracy — it’s the kind of tactic typically associated with authoritarian regimes around the world.
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Chief Superintendent Helen Flanagan said: “There are serious consequences for those who are found guilty of an offence under the Terrorism Act, so I would urge anyone considering showing public support towards this proscribed group to reconsider.”
Kerry Moscogiuri, from Amnesty International UK, said: “Criminalising speech or protest is only permitted when it incites violence, hatred or discrimination.
“To be clear: expressing support for Palestine Action does not meet this threshold. In fact, arresting and prosecuting people in this context, is a violation of the UK’s obligations under human rights law.”
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting genocide.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
Journalists and activists protest in Delhi against the state’s attacks on press freedom. Photo: DUJ
The ultra-right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments in various provinces in India have used sedition charges against journalists for their critical reporting on policies and actions.
Members of the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) held a protest in India’s capital, New Delhi, on Wednesday, August 27, denouncing the rising cases of state-sponsored attacks on journalists in the country.
The protesters also demanded the immediate withdrawal of all the false charges against senior journalists Siddharth Varadarajan, Karan Thapar, and Abhisar Sharma, calling them blatant attacks on media and press freedom in the country.
The DUJ and KUWJ warned that if their cases are not withdrawn and such attacks on press freedom continue in the future, journalists in the country will take larger public action and flood the streets in protest.
Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor-in-chief of the independent newsportal The Wire, Karan Thapar, senior editor with The Wire, and another senior journalist, Abhisar Sharma, were booked by the police in India’s north-eastern state of Assam and charged with sedition and other criminal activities.
The case against Abhisar is related to his reporting on his YouTube channel on the charges of corruption against the chief minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma. Abhisar also talks about the chief minister’s openly sectarian policies and provocative language against Muslim minorities in his video.
Varadarajan and Thapar were booked first in July and then again in August by the Assam police for their critical reporting on Operation Sindoor, India’s military operation against Pakistan in May which created a war-like situation between the two nuclear-powered neighbors.
Varadarajan and Thapar went to the court demanding the dismissal of the cases against them. While the matter was still under consideration by the court, the Assam police filed fresh charges against them. The Supreme Court of India (SCI) provided the journalists temporary protection from any action.
Abhisar Sharma also received interim relief from the SCI on Thursday. However, in both cases the SCI failed to quash the First Information Reports (FIRs), the official document in India that initiates criminal proceedings.
BJP’s attempts to silence critical voices
What the DUJ calls “attempts to browbeat and harass the media into submission”, has been a policy of the BJP government to silence critical voices in the country.
Assam is ruled by the same BJP which runs the union government in Delhi.
Several other journalists have faced false charges in the state in the last few years. In March of this year, Assam witnessed large-scale protests against the arrest of senior journalist Dilwar Hussain Mazumdar, who was arrested after he tried to expose corruption in a cooperative bank.
The union government has also used its agencies to raid and shut down independent newsportals, such as Newsclick, and has threatened others, including the Wire, to try to silence them.
Reflecting on the state of media in India earlier this year, Reporters without Borders (RSF) demanded that the state must “end media raids and arrests of journalists, often carried out under the guise of anti-terrorism laws or tax regulations.”
RSF had noted that “this judicial harassment has reached a critical level for independent news media”, with authorities repeatedly misusing the legal provisions.
Misuse of sedition
Apart from anti-terrorism laws and allegations of financial irregularities, the BJP government has also used sedition, a colonial era offense which remained a part of India’s legal codes even decades after independence. It has been frequently invoked against journalists questioning government policies.
Following massive public outcry and court interventions, the BJP government promised to scrap it in 2023, underlining its “colonial origin”. However, within months, the same government brought it back with a new name under the new set of legal codes called Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), promulgated in 2024.
The Wire has filed a fresh petition in the court to remove the sedition charges from the new code (section 156 of the BNS).
The DUJ hopes that the section “will be struck down so it can no longer be used to arrest, imprison, browbeat and harass those who dare to speak truth to power.”
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
A sign is seen at the Microsoft headquarters on July 3, 2024 in Redmond, Washington [David Ryder/Getty Images]
A group of demonstrators, including current and former Microsoft employees, staged a protest at the company’s Redmond headquarters in the US state of Washington against the tech giant over its ties to the Israeli army amid the ongoing Gaza war, according to media reports.
The protest was organized by a group called No Azure for Apartheid, named after Microsoft’s flagship cloud computing service Azure.
Protesters gathered inside the office of Microsoft President Brad Smith in Building 34, where they chanted slogans and held banners.
One sign renamed the office the “Mai Ubeid Building,” honoring a Palestinian software engineer from Gaza killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2023. Another banner called on Microsoft to “cut ties with Israel,” among other demands.
Police arrested seven people who entered Smith’s office, reports said.
Bloomberg previously reported that Microsoft has faced a “small but persistent revolt” over the past year from employees urging the company to end its business ties with Israel amid the Gaza war.
The company reportedly sought help from the FBI and worked with local law enforcement to monitor and suppress protests.
The latest demonstration follows reports that Israel’s Unit 8200 used Microsoft Azure to store Palestinian phone call recordings. Earlier this year, the Associated Press revealed Microsoft’s partnership with Israel’s Defense Ministry to process intelligence for target selection.
After the AP report, Microsoft said an internal review found no evidence that Azure or its AI technologies were used to target or harm people in Gaza. While it did not publish the review, the company said it would share factual findings from a follow-up review prompted by The Guardian once completed.
Israel has killed nearly 63,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine, rendering it uninhabitable.
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/O74hZCKKdpAUK 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.Vote Labour for Genocide.
Buenos Aires march on Saturday, August 9. Photo: Argentine Committee for Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Protesters on Saturday also denounced the very close relationship between the governments of Milei and Netanyah
On August 9, thousands of Argentines took to the streets of the capital, Buenos Aires, demanding an end to the genocide being committed in Gaza, Palestine Israel. The slogan of the march was “We are all children of Gaza”.
The protesters denounced the indiscriminate attacks and forced starvation that, they claimed, Israeli forces are perpetrating against the civilian population.
The demonstration ended at Plaza de Mayo, where, according to some media outlets, more than 10,000 people demanded an end to the repressive actions in Palestine: “ Gaza is starving, time is up!” and “Palestine will prevail from the river to the sea” were some of the slogans chanted by the protesters as they waved Palestinian flags.
The march brought together human rights organizations, left-wing political parties, and various social movements, which declared that the only solution to any conflict in Palestine is peace, respect for sovereignty, and a dignified life for those who live there.
“We are facing genocide, which is confirmed by Israeli leaders themselves when they openly say that it is lawful to starve and dehydrate the entire population of Gaza, including its children. This genocide must be denounced relentlessly,” said Gabriel Solano, one of the leaders of the Left Front, during the mobilization.
For its part, the Palestinian Embassy in Argentina posted on X: “THANK YOU ARGENTINA, WE WILL NEVER FORGET! An impressive demonstration took place on Saturday, August 9, in Buenos Aires to denounce the genocide being carried out by the state of Israel against the Palestinian people.”
A close relationship between the governments of Argentina and Israel?
The demonstration also criticized the close ties between the Argentine and Israeli governments, which Argentine President Javier Milei (who recently traveled to the occupied Palestinian territories) has never denied. One of the slogans heard at the march was: “Milei, Zionist, you are the terrorist”.
Milei has announced that in 2026, he will relocate the Argentine embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that Palestinians and several governments around the world have heavily criticized. For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that he will soon come to Argentina on an official visit, a move that various Argentine political movements and parties have strongly denounced.
In addition to Buenos Aires, demonstrations against the genocide in Palestine took place in other Argentine cities, such as San Carlos de Bariloche, El Bolsón, Trelew, Comodoro Rivadavia, Ushuaia, Río Grande, San Salvador de Jujuy, Salta, San Miguel de Tucumán, San Juan, La Rioja, Catamarca, Mendoza, Santa Fe, Concepción del Uruguay, Córdoba, Cosquín, Alta Gracia, Villa Dolores, La Plata, Bahía Blanca, Mar del Plata, Neuquén, and Viedma.
Solidarity with Palestine continues to grow
“The last three demonstrations have grown due to the news about the genocide taking place in Gaza,” Gabriela B., an activist with Nuestramérica and member of the Argentine Committee for Solidarity with the Palestinian People, told Peoples Dispatch. For her, there is a significant increase in support for the cause, “If there was ever a belief that people could ignore the situation in Palestine without it affecting their humanity or without their stance being noticed, that idea has been shattered.”
She also pointed out the importance of Israel in Argentina: “In Argentina, the situation is very difficult. As a colleague mentioned, Argentina is considered the capital of Zionism [in Latin America], which means that the mainstream media only broadcasts voices that cover up the genocide. Furthermore, any action or complaint related to Palestine is framed within the concept of anti-Semitism, making solidarity and questioning of the situation even more difficult. The silence is already unsustainable, and Netanyahu’s possible visit, as well as the famine in Gaza, have triggered acts of repudiation. This resulted in posts on the accounts of famous artists during the week and in the large march that took place not only in Buenos Aires but in 30 other locations throughout the country, including cities and provinces.”
Regarding the demands made by the protesters, Gabriela said: “The main demand was a call to stop the genocide and famine, and to reject the possible visit to Argentina by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” Other demands included:
The withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon.
Ending diplomatic relations with Israel. Cancelling the Mercosur-Israel agreement (a Free Trade Agreement between Israel and a bloc of South American countries).
Stop the persecution of those who show solidarity with the Palestinian people.
In Argentina, two prominent political figures are currently being persecuted for tweeting about the genocide in Gaza: Vanina Biasi and Alejandro Bodart.
When asked about the criticisms raised during the march against Milei’s close relationship with Netanyahu, Gabriela B. said that in the last month, key political and progressive movements have begun to join the movement in support of Palestine and rejecting Israel’s actions. After Saturday’s march, momentum has continued to build, “various complaints were filed after Saturday by trade unions and human rights organizations, demanding Netanyahu’s arrest if he visits Argentina. The same complaint alleges that Netanyahu committed ‘genocide and war crimes’ against the Palestinians (presented by the secretary general of ATE Buenos Aires, Daniel ‘Tano’ Catalano, and the representative of the H.I.J.O.S. group, Verónica Castelli).”
She added: “However, as far as Milei and the ruling party are concerned, nothing has happened. No media outlet, except for alternative ones, has reported on the large march. The only news that managed to break through the media blockade and name Israel as a murderer was the news of the six journalists who were killed on Sunday. This march has served to denounce the Zionist alliance that the government maintains and to continue raising awareness among our people.”
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/O74hZCKKdpAKeir 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.
Metropolitan Police officers observing a protest in central London in support of Palestine Action, organised by the Defend Our Juries group, July 5, 2025
