The UK government’s proscription of campaign group Palestine Action saw over more than 500 protestors arrested this month – the greatest number of arrests made by the Met Police on a single day – after they took signs supporting the group to Parliament Square. The arrests prompted expressions of unease from politicians, commentators and, now, authors. Irish writer Sally Rooney expressed her support for the activists in the Irish Times this weekend and vowed to use BBC cash to help fund Palestine Action.
Rooney wrote that she felt she had to make her support public after the mass arrests of Palestine Action supporters on 9 August, and asserted: ‘If this makes me a “supporter of terror” under UK law, so be it.’ The Irish novelist went on:
My books, at least for now, are still published in Britain, and are widely available in bookshops and even supermarkets. In recent years, the UK’s state broadcaster has also televised two fine adaptations of my novels, and therefore regularly pays me residual fees. I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can. If the British state considers this ‘terrorism’, then perhaps it should investigate the shady organisations that continue to promote my work and fund my activities, such as WH Smith and the BBC.
Rooney has provided a witness statement for the group which has been given to the High Court in London as part of proceeding to challenge the proscription of the group. The Irish author has accused Sir Keir Starmer’s government of stripping Brits of ‘basic rights and freedoms’ to protect its relationship with Israel. She went on to claim that the ‘an increasing number of artists and writer can no longer safely travel to Britain to speak in public.’
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper designated the organisation as a terrorist group – a move which UN human rights chief Volker Türk warned ‘misuses’ counter-terrorism legislation – after members broke into RAF Brize Norton and graffitied two military planes. Since Cooper’s move, more than 700 people have been arrested for supporting Palestine Action – including an Irish citizen and a woman in Belfast. Rooney blasted the arrest by the PSNI as ‘political policing’, and pointed out officers had made no arrests after a mural for the Ulster Volunteer Force – a proscribed group responsible for numerous deaths during the Troubles in Ireland – was repainted in north Belfast last year. She noted:
Palestine Action, proscribed under the same law, is responsible for zero deaths and has never advocated the use of violence against any human being. Why then are its supporters arrested for wearing T-shirts, while murals celebrating loyalist death squads are left untouched?
Under UK law, anyone found guilty of supporting a proscribed organisation could face up to 14 years in prison – and a possible fine of £5,000. As Mr S wrote last week, Lord Hermer has the final say over whether these protestors will be prosecuted. What will the Attorney General decide to do? Stay tuned…
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