Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced in the Commons this afternoon that the UK government will proscribe Palestine Action. The move comes after members of the activist group broke into RAF Brize Norton and graffitied two military planes. In a statement, Cooper said: ‘A draft proscription order will be laid in Parliament on Monday 30 June. If passed, it will make it illegal to be a member of, or invite support for, Palestine Action.’
And the Metropolitan police have taken no chances with them in London. The force has banned protests planned for today from taking place outside parliament, imposing an exclusion zone around Westminster. Meanwhile police have said that demonstrations by the group cannot begin before noon in central London and must wrap up by 3pm. If activists break these rules, they could face arrest. Crikey!
It hasn’t completely stumped campaigners, however, with the group moving their protests to Trafalgar Square instead. Announcing the new location on social media, Palestine Action fumed: ‘The Metropolitan Police are trying to deter support from Palestine Action by banning the protest from taking place at the House of Parliament. Don’t let them win!’ A gathering of around 200 people has met in the area, with some kitted out in face coverings and brandishing Palestinian flags. Placards that scream ‘Britain, US, Israel are terrorists… Hands off Palestine Action’ have been distributed, while volunteers on the ground have handed out ‘bust cards’ that give legal advice in case of arrest.
The protests come ahead of the Home Secretary’s written statement – in which she will lay out plans to proscribe Palestine Action, effectively branding them a terrorist organisation
The Home Secretary’s decision today comes as a security review begins at military bases across the country after the protestors managed to gain access to the RAF unit in Oxfordshire. But while the Cooper’s plans have garnered praise from across the political spectrum – with former Tory home secretary Suella Braverman among those lauding Labour – the move has also received significant backlash.
Amnesty International UK have raged that: ‘Terrorism powers should never have been used to aggravate criminal charges against Palestine Action activists and they certainly shouldn’t be used to ban them.’ Meanwhile left-wingers like independent MP Zarah Sultana and former adviser to Jeremy Corbyn, James Schneider, have taken to social media to slam Cooper’s decision, with Schneider writing: ‘Every freedom-loving person should oppose the proscription of Palestine Action.’ And Irish author Sally Rooney has even waded in, writing in the Guardian today that:
From the suffragettes to the gay rights movement to the anti-apartheid struggle, genuine political resistance has always involved intentional law-breaking… Proscribing an entire organisation under the Terrorism Act is not the same thing as prosecuting particular individuals for specific transgressions… If the government proceeds down this path, any ordinary person in the UK could in theory be sent to prison simply for expressing verbal support for non-violent activism. Quite aside from the broader principle, this would represent an alarming curtailment of free speech.
But pressure from the left didn’t manage to dissuade Cooper of her convictions in time…
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