Defend our right to protest
The government’s plan to ban the group Palestine Action using anti-terrorism laws is an attack on the right to protest.
They are set to rush the ban through on Monday after the group sprayed red paint on some military planes on Friday, as a protest against UK government support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Civil liberties group Liberty called the proposed ban “a shocking escalation of the government’s crackdown on protest”. Amnesty said it is “deeply concerned at the use of counter-terrorism powers to target protest groups”.
The proposed ban echoes the authoritarian targeting of Palestine activists and protesters by the Trump administration in the US.
Putting paint on a plane is not ‘terrorism’. Even the government itself initially described it as “vandalism”. This is a flagrant abuse of anti-terrorism powers to target peaceful protesters, which would add Palestine Action to the list of banned terror groups alongside the likes of al-Qaeda – the first protest group ever to be banned in this way.
There is a long tradition of peace protesters taking similar actions, and often being found not guilty in court on the basis that their actions were justified to prevent atrocities.
In this case, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have evidenced and said Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza. The International Court of Justice ruled in April 2024 that Israel was carrying out a “plausable genocide” in Gaza.
Palestine Action said it took its action to highlight that “despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo” and “fly spy planes over Gaza”.
Hundreds of thousands of people have poured onto the streets of the UK to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The previous Tory government branded these protesters “hate marchers”. Now the same smears continue under a Labour government that is rolling back our rights to protest.
The government must not be allowed to use anti-terrorism laws to ban solidarity with Palestine.
We are supporting the emergency demonstration against the ban on Palestine Action this Monday (23 June), outside Parliament from 12noon.