Tag: protests

  • ‘Get ICE Out!’ Protests Intensify After Another Shooting by Federal Agent in Minneapolis

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    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Tensions intensify during an anti-ICE protest following a shooting involving federal law enforcement in north Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 14, 2026. (Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    “This is a military occupation,” said the president of the Minneapolis City Council, “and it feels like a military occupation.”

    Protests against the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis intensified late Wednesday after a federal officer shot and wounded a man during a traffic stop.

    “Get ICE out of the city!” one resident told Status Coup News as federal agents responded forcefully to demonstrations against their abuses, firing flash bang grenades and chemical munitions at protesters.

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    The latest shooting occurred in north Minneapolis during what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called a “targeted traffic stop.” DHS, which has lied repeatedly about the circumstances of ICE-involved shootings in recent days, said in a statement that the latest shooting victim had attempted to evade arrest and hit the pursuing officer “with a shovel or a broomstick.”

    The agent shot the man in the leg, and both were later taken to the hospital.

    Minneapolis officials responded with outrage to the shooting, which came a week after ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good.

    Jacob Frey, the city’s Democratic mayor, said that “no matter what led up to this incident, the situation we are seeing in our city is not sustainable.”

    “This is already the second shooting that we’ve had in a week,” Frey said during a press conference late Wednesday. “People are scared. The atmosphere is tense. But again, there is another option. We can stop going down this route together.”

    The Trump administration has only added fuel to the fire, further expanding the presence of federal agents in Minnesota and attacking the state’s officials and residents with increasingly belligerent rhetoric. President Donald Trump wrote on social media earlier this week that “reckoning and retribution is coming” to Minnesota.

    Wednesday’s shooting came as ICE agents, often heavily armed and wearing combat gear, continued terrorizing communities in Minneapolis and across the United States, with many incidents captured on video. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Wednesday that “armed, masked, undertrained ICE agents are going door to door ordering people to point out where their neighbors of color live.”

    “At grocery stores, at bus stops, even at our schools, they’re breaking windows, dragging pregnant women down the street, just plain grabbing Minnesotans and shoving them into unmarked vans, kidnapping innocent people with no warning and no due process,” Walz continued.

    Minneapolis City Council President Elliott Payne said Wednesday that he was assaulted by ICE officers while lawfully observing them. Payne noted in an interview with the New York Times that ICE agents frequently brandish their weapons to threaten residents.

    “This is a military occupation,” said Payne, “and it feels like a military occupation.”

    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
    Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
  • Six points to navigate the turmoil in Iran

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    Original article by Vijay Prashad republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

    Aftermath of protests in Iran on January 10, 2025. Photo: IRIB

    Vijay Prashad offers six points to make sense of the situation in Iran amid protests, violence, and threats of military intervention from Washington

    Iran is in turmoil. Across the country, there have been protests of different magnitudes, with violence on the increase with both protesters and police finding themselves in the morgue. What began as work stoppages and inflation protests drew together a range of discontent, with women and young people frustrated with a system unable to secure their livelihood. Iran has been under prolonged economic siege and has been attacked directly by Israel and the United States not only within its borders, but across West Asia (including in its diplomatic enclaves in Syria). This economic war waged by the United States has created the situation for this turmoil, but the turmoil itself is not directed at Washington but at the government in Tehran.

    There are reports – such as in the mainstream Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz in October 2025 about Israeli “influence operations aiming to install Reza Pahlavi as Shah of Iran” – that Israeli intelligence has a role in the protests, and the United States has openly told the protestors that it would bomb Tehran if the violence by the government increase. Last year, protests took place in twelve South Pars oil refineries, where 5,000 contract workers in the Bushehr Gas Refinery Workers Union marched with their families on December 9 in Asaluyeh to demand higher wages and better working-conditions. When the workers took their struggle to the National Parliament in Tehran, where they called for an end to the contract work system, the Israelis and the United States took advantage of these sincere protests to attempt to transform a legitimate struggle into a potential regime change operation.

    To understand what is happening, here are six points of historical importance that are offered in the spirit of discussion. Since 1979, Iran has played a very important role in the movement beyond monarchies in the Arab and Muslim world, and it has been an important defender of the Palestinian struggle. Iran is no stranger to foreign interference, going back to the British control of Iran’s oil from 1901, the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention that divided Iran into spheres of influence, the 1921 coup that put Reza Khan on the throne, the 1953 coup that installed his son, Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi to the throne, and then the hybrid war against the Iranian Revolution from 1979 to the present. Here are the six points:

    1. The Iranian Revolution of 1978-79 overthrew the rule of the Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi, and due to the strength of the religious clergy and its political formations resulted in the creation of the Islamic Republic in April 1979 with the Constitution of the Islamic Republic coming into effect in December 1979. The other currents in the revolution (from the communist left to the liberals) found themselves largely sidelined and even – in some cases – repressed. The March 1979 protests on International Women’s Day in Tehran followed the restrictions on women’s rights (particularly against the compulsory hijab policy), which forced the government to accept the demands of the protests – but this was a short-term win, since in 1983 a mandatory hijab law was passed.

    2. The Revolution followed the military coup of Zia ul-Haq in Pakistan in 1977, the Saur Revolution in Afghanistan (August 1978), the establishment of the Yemeni Socialist Party (October 1978) that took the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen into the Soviet sphere and that led to the North-South war in Yemen (February-March 1979), and the capture of power by Saddam Hussein Iraq in July 1979. The entire region of south-western and central Asia was catapulting in political somersaults. Some of these developments (Pakistan, Iraq) offered advantages to the United States, and the others (Afghanistan, Iran, Yemen) being counter to US objectives in the region. Very quickly, the United States attempted to press its advantages by trying to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran, the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

    3. The pressure by the United States on these processes led to a war-like situation in all three countries: the US and its Gulf allies urged Iraq to invade Iran unprovoked in September 1980, starting a war that lasted till 1988; the Gulf Arab states urged North Yemen to invade South Yemen after the assassination of Salim Rubaya Ali (a Maoist who was negotiating the merger of the two Yemens); finally, in Afghanistan, the US began to fund the mujahideen to start an assassination campaign against cadre of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan. Iran, Afghanistan, and Yemen saw their social projects narrowed by the attacks they faced from outside. Afghanistan crashed into over forty years of terrible violence and war, even though the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan remained in place for 18 years; the Marxist government in South Yemen remained until 1990, but it was a pale shadow of its own expectations; Iran, meanwhile, saw its Islamic Republic survive a harsh sanctions policy that followed the end of the war by Iraq (in 1988).

    4. The Islamic Republic faced several important, consecutive challenges:

    The most important came from US imperialism, which not only fully spurred Iraq’s war, but supported initiatives by the former Iranian elites to restore their rule and supported Israeli attempts to undermine the Islamic Republic (including direct attacks on Iran, sabotage operations, and assassinations of key figures from the science professions and military). It is the United States and Israel that have been systematically trying to erode Iran’s power in the region, with the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani in 2020, the harsh attack on Hezbollah during the Israeli genocide and the assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in 2024, and the overthrow of the government in Syria in December 2024 with the installation of the former al-Qaeda chief as President in Damascus.

    The old Iranian elites, led by the Shah at first till his death in 1980 and then his son, so-called Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, joined with the Europeans and the US to restore their rule. It is important to know that while the Shah had sat on the Peacock Throne from 1941, he was forced to accept a democratic government from 1951 to 1953 – which was overthrown by Western intelligence services and then the Shah was encouraged to exercise absolute rule from 1953 to the revolution of 1978-79. The Shah’s bloc has consistently wanted to return to power in Iran. While the Green Movement of 2009 had a very small monarchical element, it represented the dominant classes who wanted political reforms against the more plebeian presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It is telling that the United States has ‘chosen’ the Shah’s son, who lives in Los Angeles, as the figure of this uprising.

    Limitations to the republic’s transformative social agenda were present as it tolerated sections of the old elite, allowing them to hold their property, and therefore allowing the formation of a stratified class system that benefited sections of these property owners and an emergent middle class. After the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in June 1989 and the end of the Iran-Iraq War, the government adopted large parts of the International Monetary Fund’s structural adjustment policies, which – one way or the other – remained in place for decades (the policy was driven by Mohsen Nourbaksh, who was the Minister of Economic Affairs from 1989 to 1994 and then head of the Central Bank from 1994 to 2003). The economy was not organized along socialist lines in 1979, but it had built a strong role for the state and for public planning due to the needs of the war economy and due to the commitment to Islamic social welfare. Nourbaksh could not totally dismantle the state, but he conducted currency and banking reform as well as he did cautiously integrate Iran into the global economy. The class divergence and the difficulties of life for the majority of Iranians increased due to the combined impact of the US-European sanctions regime, the military threats by the US-Israelis (that has led to high military spending in Iran – still at around 2.5% of GDP it is much lower than the 12% of GDP during the reign of the Shah), and to the neoliberal policies pursued by the increasingly neoliberal finance ministers of the government (such as Ali Tayebnia from 2013 to 2017 and Ali Madanizadeh from 2025). It was this limitation of the Islamic Republic that has led to cycles of economic protest: 2017-2018 (around inflation and subsidy cuts), 2019 (around fuel price hike), 2025 (by bakers), and 2025-26 (soaring inflation and the collapse of the Iranian rial).

    5. While the current protests are largely driven by a record-high Rial to USD exchange and a 60% food inflation rate, the transition from labor strikes in South Pars to coordinated urban violence points towards a deeper level of intervention. The administration has favored sections of the import-export sector, which has worked in the context of the sanctions, to assist the commodity-exporters at the expense of the importers – a situation that is not easy to correct. Yet the abrupt 30-40% currency drop is a classic hallmark of external financial manipulation. Therefore, what began as business owners protesting the Central Bank without interference, soon morphed into a violent, top-down assault on the state fabric. The “protests” shifted overnight from peaceful assemblies to high-intensity urban sabotage resulting in the deaths of roughly 100 law enforcement officers, with claims that some officers were burned alive, a security member was beheaded, and a medical clinic was torched, claiming the life of a nurse, for instance. The use of close-range small arms fire against civilians further suggests an attempt to maximize domestic tension and provide a pretext for foreign intervention. The geopolitical orchestration behind the chaos became undeniable as the US State Department and Mossad openly cheered the violence in real-time. Once authorities disabled Internet access, the protests significantly lost strength, which places into question the spontaneity of the movement and lends truth to the thesis that there is a destabilization strategy at play, seeking to benefit from the current international conjuncture.

    6. The opposition has taken to the streets but recognizes that it does not have the strength to seize power. There are reports of US and Israeli interference, and it does not help the opposition that the Shah’s son has been both claiming credit for the protests and seeing himself as its beneficiary. With Trump at the helm of hyper-imperialism, and with Israel amid a period of what it feels are endless victories, it is impossible to know what these dangerous cliques will do. As the mobilizations lose steam, which will take place, the US-Israel might take advantage of the situation to strike Tehran and other cities with more force than it did in June 2025. This should be a worry not only for the people in Iran, the vast mass of whom do not wish an attack on their country, but also the people of the Global South – who will find themselves as the next target after Venezuela and Iran.

    Real problems bedevil the population, but these problems are not going to be solved through a hyper-imperialist aerial bombardment by the United States and Israel. The Iranians will need to sort out their own problems. The sanctions regime and the threats of violence do nothing to allow that to happen. It is easy to say “solidarity to the Iranians” in the West, where protesters are being beaten and even killed for their support of the Palestinians and their anger at the anti-immigration policies. And somehow, it seems to be much harder to say “end the sanctions,” and therefore allow the Iranian people to breathe into their own future.

    Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor, and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter. He is an editor of LeftWord Books and the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He has written more than 20 books, including The Darker Nations and The Poorer Nations. His latest books are On Cuba: Reflections on 70 Years of Revolution and Struggle (with Noam Chomsky), Struggle Makes Us Human: Learning from Movements for Socialism, and (also with Noam Chomsky) The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of US Power. Chelwa and Prashad will publish How the International Monetary Fund is Suffocating Africa later this year with Inkani Books.

    This article was produced by Globetrotter.

    15 Jan 2026 2.25am UK: The inclusion of this article should not be regarded as approval of it’s analysis. It is instead included for the historical context and standard of discussion provided.

    Original article by Vijay Prashad republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
    Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.

  • Iran accuses United States of using Isis to stir up violence

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/iran-accuses-united-states-using-isis-stir-violence

     Activists take part in a rally supporting protesters in Iran at Lafayette Park, across from the White House, in Washington, January 11, 2026

    ISRAEL and the United States have sent Islamic State (Isis) terrorists to take part in the mass uprisings, Iranian authorities alleged today.

    This comes as more observers call out the hypocrisy of nations who slam Iran’s clampdown on protests but themselves fail to follow international law.

    At least 2,000 protesters are alleged to have been killed in a brutal Iranian clampdown, but it is not possible to report verifiable figures due to the Iranian closure of internet and communications facilities.

    Armed forces chief of staff Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi said that, to compensate for their defeat in last year’s 12-day “holy defensive war,” the US and Israel had “unleashed Isis terrorists on our great people.”

    He added: “These mercenaries, who are worse than wild beasts, killed civilians and law enforcement officials.” 

    …

    While many observers salute the bravery of protesters on the streets of Iran, a growing number are beginning to call out foreign interference in the country.

    Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai said today that she was supporting the Iranian protesters.

    She took to social media to say that “the protests in Iran cannot be separated from the longstanding, state-imposed restrictions on girls’ and women’s autonomy, in all aspects of public life including education. Iranian girls, like girls everywhere, demand a life with dignity.”

    But Ms Yousafzai added: “[Iran’s] future must be driven by the Iranian people and include the leadership of Iranian women and girls — not external forces or oppressive regimes.”

    …

    Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/iran-accuses-united-states-using-isis-stir-violence

    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
    Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
  • Tens of thousands across India mobilize to oppose US attacks on Venezuela

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    Original article by Abdul Rahman republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.


    Protests by the Democratic Youth Federation of India – Central Executive Committee in Kerala condemning the US assault on Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. Photo: CPI(M)

    The Indian government’s failure to condemn the US aggression against Venezuela’s sovereignty, despite it being in violation of the country’s long-standing position and its expressed commitments to the UN charter, has invited strong domestic criticism.

    Tens of thousands of people across India continued to mobilize on Wednesday, January 7, the fourth consecutive day, in opposition to the US aggression in Venezuela and the abduction of its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife Cilia Flores.

    Workers, in response to the call made by one of India’s largest trade union federations, the Center for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), organized large-scale protests near their workplaces across the country on Wednesday.

    In various places they burned the effigies of US President Donald Trump, calling him the killer of democracy.

    Workers across the country employed in various sectors, from hydel power plants to modern manufacturing industries, organised protest demonstrations at the call of @cituhq against US aggression on #Venezuela and the kidnapping of President #NicolasMaduro and his wife Cilia… pic.twitter.com/92OJqSG1k0

    — CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) January 7, 2026

    Large scale protests were organized in different parts of the country by the student, youth and women’s groups as well. The protesters expressed solidarity with the people of Venezuela and denounced Washington’s acts of aggression against the sovereign nation.

    US forces attacked various places inside Venezuela, including the capital, Caracas, on Saturday and abducted President Maduro and his wife. At least 80 people, including 32 Cuban guards defending the president, were killed in US aggression.

    Protests in every corner of India

    In the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, Yousuf Tarigami, leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), led a protest of workers and students on Tuesday. Addressing the protest, he called the attack on Venezuela an act of naked imperialism.

    Tarigami questioned Trump’s attempts to dictate terms to other countries. He called the US acts illegal and asserted that the sovereignty of all countries must be respected.

    In the southernmost state of Tamil Nadu, CPI(M) and various women, youth, and student groups have carried out marches and protests for the last four days. The protesters shouted slogans against the imperialist aggression and demanded the release of President Maduro and his wife Cilia.

    A joint protest of all left parties was also organized in the north-eastern state of Assam on Tuesday against US imperialist attacks on Venezuela. The protest was joined by all the major parties, such as CPI (M), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, and the Communist Party of India (CPI), among others.

    Student and youth organizations held large protests all across Kerala, one of the southern states in defense of Venezuela’s sovereignty and against imperialist aggression. The protesters held torchlight marches in some places shouting slogans such as “Death to Imperialism” and “Hands off Venezuela!”

    The @dyficec held protests across Kerala condemning the imperialist US assault on #Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores pic.twitter.com/4U7KEHMz4C

    — CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) January 6, 2026

    Similar protests were held in states such as Telangana, Maharashtra, Bihar, and West Bengal as well. The left parties have called for further anti-imperialist protests in the coming days.

    India must condemn US aggression

    Left parties in India have also demanded that the Indian government issue a condemnation of the unilateral US military action and to exercise diplomatic measures to assure the release of Maduro and his wife immediately.

    The ultra-right-wing government in the country, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has come under attack from the left and progressive forces for its refusal to condemn the US aggression.

    India has merely expressed “deep concern” over the developments in Venezuela, in an official statement issued hours after the outbreak of the news of the US aggression and Maduro’s kidnapping.

    The left parties have called India’s official position “shameful” and “unworthy” of the country’s long-held position of independence and sovereignty of nations.

    CPI (M) called India’s silence on the issue a “pro-US stance” claiming it was “in line with the Modi government’s right-wing ideology and strategic ties with the Trump administration.” It further stated that by taking such a position, India has “abdicated any claim to represent the interests of the Global South.”

    Original article by Abdul Rahman republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Image of the original Fascists Mussolini and Hitler.
    The original Fascists Mussolini and Hitler
    Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
    Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.

  • Palestine Action protests come to an end with 636 arrests over 12 days in over 20 towns and cities

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    defendourjuries

    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.

    Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine 'Private Eye'.
    Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.
    Keir 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.
    Keir 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.
    Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
    Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.