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Public applauds ‘terror’ suspects ahead of major escalation of Palestine Action protests

On Saturday 19 July, police arrested nearly 100 more people under the Terrorism Act 2000 for holding signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”, bringing the number to around 200 since Palestine Action became a proscribed organisation on 5 July.

More arrests – and applause, too

Again the police were divided in their response, with common sense prevailing in Edinburgh, Derry, and outside the British Embassy in The Hague, where peaceful protestors were left undisturbed:

Palestine Action

By contrast, the Met Police arrested 55 in Parliament Square. 17 were arrested in Bristol, 16 in Manchester and 8 in Truro:

Paul O’Brien, medical doctor and one of those sign holders, said:

In my long life I have not seen anything like the horrors coming out of Gaza each day. Nobody and nothing is spared. Despite this, our government continues to provide political, military and moral support for Israel conducting this genocide. International law means nothing. It is up to everyone to oppose this brutality and Palestine Action is doing it the way they can.

Ahead of what is expected to be a major groundswell in numbers on 9 August, members of the public offered sustained applause to those arrested in Truro, whose number included 81 year-old Deborah Hinton, a former magistrate:

Palestine Action: the thin end of a decades-old wedge

Holding up cardboard signs has become the crime of the day since the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, ordered that Palestine Action be banned as a ‘terrorist organisation’ on 5 July, after supporters of the group entered an RAF base at Brize Norton and spray-painted two military planes red.

The Home Secretary’s decision followed years of right-wing think tanks and arms corporations lobbying the Government to clamp down on the activists denouncing their policies and corporate abuses of power.

On 19 July, sign-holders were spread across London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol, Derry, and Truro and included teachers, doctors, and scientists. They joined a group of people from all walks of life who have been taking this action for the past two weeks, such as a vicar in her 80s, the daughter of a Polish resistance fighter, and veterans of the 1960s civil rights movement including Eamon McCann, political activist, former politician and journalist, and Kate Nash, whose brother was killed on Bloody Sunday.

Another sign holder, Heather Cooper, retired, said:

I was part of the peace movement when I was in my 20s. A close friend was one of the two people who did a Swords into Ploughshares action in the UK. He served 6 months in prison for beating in the nose cone of an F1-11 which at that time the UK was selling to Indonesia to bomb the hell out of the East Timorese. No one called either of the two who took action terrorists. I am highly worried by the action of the government in proscribing Palestine Action who, it seems to me, are acting bravely within the tradition of nonviolent direct action against the arms trade and the horrific genocide in Gaza.

Meanwhile, crowds gathered outside the British embassy in The Hague, Netherlands, to decry the UK’s human rights record rapidly falling behind its international partners:

The protest comes ahead of a High Court hearing on Monday 21 July.

In this legal challenge to the ban, the Claimant Huda Ammori will seek permission for a full judicial review of the proscription of Palestine Action. If successful, the judicial review would quash the protest group’s proscription.

Madness

Actions like these are only set to grow bigger. On Saturday 9 August, over 500 people are expected to come together to all hold up signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”. The action will put to the test how many hundreds or even thousands of peaceful citizens the police force are willing to arrest before they will decide the inevitable, namely that the proscription of Palestine Action is absurd and unworkable.

Clare Walters is a psychotherapist and another sign holder. She said:

I am a 68 year old grandmother. I cannot remain quiet while this country is actively supporting genocide in Gaza. It is not happening in my name. To criminalise people who are protesting against arms sales to Israel is a terrifyingly oppressive step that is being taken by this government. I feel moved to act in this way by sitting in silent vigil for an hour, even if I risk a prison sentence.

People around the country are already demonstrating that these acts of attempted deterrence aren’t working. Only recently, a man was reportedly arrested and charged in Glasgow for holding a placard at a protest which read: “Genocide in Palestine. Time to take action.”

That brings the total of arrests to have taken place in the aftermath of the proscription of Palestine Action to nearly 200 within a fortnight in the UK and about 280 altogether, including the 80 arrested as part of a solidarity action in the Hague on 5 July.

Last year, the total number of terrorism related arrests in the UK was 248. There have also been 14 raids of sign-holders’ private homes in Cardiff, Leeds, and Bradford.

Investigate Keir Starmer

On 18 July, Defend Our Juries wrote to Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Commissioner, giving him advance notice of the protests, but urging him to use police resources to investigate crimes of genocide rather than carboard signs and red-paint:

Our intention is simply to make visible the chilling implications of this totalitarian law, which is already being used to silence opposition to the horrors unfolding in Gaza, in which the British government is an active partner. The independence of the police from political interference, and the principle that no-one is above the law, are the cornerstones of democracy and the rule of law. As regards the proper use of police resources, we urge you to investigate the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, for offences under the Genocide Act 1969.

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said:

Just a few weeks ago, being arrested under the Terrorism Act was the stuff of nightmares. Now it’s a badge of honour that people are wearing with pride – the mark of resistance to genocide and standing firm for our democratic freedoms. This is a major cultural shift. For years, the Terrorism laws and the Prevent programme have been used to divide and rule communities, and to marginalise Muslim communities in particular. Thanks to Yvette Cooper’s hubris, they are now helping to bring us together.

Featured image and additional images supplied

By The Canary

This post was originally published on Canary.