Dozens More ‘I Support Palestine Action’ Protesters Arrested

For the second week running, demonstrators were arrested for holding signs reading ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action’ in Parliament Square today, with others expected to take part in later actions across the UK.

Expressing public support for Palestine Action is now a criminal offence under the Terrorism Act following the group’s proscription by home secretary Yvette Cooper. It is the first time anti-terror law, designed to ban groups like Al Qaida and Isis, has been used to designate a domestic, non-violent direct action group a terrorist organisation. 

The action, organised by Defend Our Juries, aims to challenge that proscription. Further such actions are set to take place in Bristol, Manchester and Cardiff. An independently organised demonstration is also being held in Derry, and one man took ‘solo action’ by posing with a sign in the market town of Kendal in Cumbria. 

Bill, a 76-year-old university lecturer, told Novara Media he was participating in the London action because he disagreed “with this government’s definition of a terrorist”. “I might as well call you a red bell pepper, and now you have all the legal rights of a red bell pepper,” he said. Asked how he felt about the prospect of a charge under the terrorism act, he replied, “it’s all an adventure.”

In a letter to the Home Secretary, the groups said “ We will not be deterred from opposing genocide, nor from defending those who refuse to be bystanders. The British public is against you and your genocide. They are against the corruption of democracy and the rule of law by the Israeli government, Elbit Systems, and the arms industry.”

Ahead of the action, Defend our Juries wrote to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley alerting him to the action. Last week, 29 people were arrested, held for 12 hours then released without charge. Among them were an 83-year-old priest and a human rights lawyer.

In the letter, the group urged Rowley to exercise operational independence over the Met’s policing by not enforcing the law around Palestine Action’s proscription. And they accuse the commissioner of ‘ acting here as the private security for the partners to a genocide, the ultimate crime’.

The Met police were contacted for comment.

Additional reporting by Charlotte England.