In parliament square before the arrests (Picture: Guy Smallman)
The British state’s ban of Palestine Action has given the police the green light to clamp down on Palestine solidarity.
The police monitoring group Net Pol on Saturday said, “We have a report saying that two women walking up to a protest at BAE Samlesbury were stopped by Lancashire Police.
“They were advised to remove their T-shirts that say ‘Free Palestine’, as it may ‘breach the proscription order’.”
On the same day, police arrested more than 20 people in Parliament Square. They carried signs that read, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
The day before Palestine Action lost a bid at the High Court to stop the British state banning it as a terrorist organisation.
The non-violent direct action group asked judges to block home secretary Yvette Cooper’s plan to proscribe it under the Terrorism Act 2000. Huda Ammori, Palestine Action co-founder, slammed the move as “authoritarian”.
The British state’s crackdown on Palestine Action is a threat to the solidarity movement. And the whole movement should defend Palestine Action and the right to take action against Israel’s genocide.
There is still the possibility of a further legal challenge, with a full hearing to determine the future of the ban set for later this month.
Nearly 1,000 people rallied outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Friday as judges heard the case.
“We cannot allow this to pass,” protester Ellen told Socialist Worker. “First they come for Palestine Action, then they come for all the other groups in the Palestine movement.
“These are people who painted a plane to save lives, a plane that was going to bomb children.”
On the protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice
Ellen said that Palestine Action represents a “fight for humanity as the government supports a genocide”.
Dr James Smith, who has worked in Gaza, told the rally, “As healthcare workers, we are taught prevention is always better than cure.
“To this end, blocking arms factories is preventative care. Refusing to load weapons onto ships destined to Israel is preventative care.
“Destroying the very drones used to drop incendiary bombs on the tents in which Palestinians sleep—that is preventative care.”
James argued that “only physically stopping the war machine will bring an end to this”.
“Palestine Action has acted decisively to protect the Palestinian people,” he said. “It’s because Palestine Action has been so effective in disrupting the military industrial complex, that they have been labelled a threat.”
Franck Magennis, lawyer and supporter of Palestine Action, slammed the “staggering assault on our civil liberties”. He said, “Starmer and his lying cabinet of war criminals are pathetic and weak.
“Every time they try to stop us, we get stronger. They suppress us and we come back stronger.
“If they think they can silence us they are simply wrong, there are too many of us and we are simply too strong. We are the international working class, we stand in solidarity—an injury to one is to all.”
Defiance ran through the protest. “I was a draft dodger in the Vietnam War,” an activist in the Jewish Anti-Zionist Network told Socialist Worker.
“The resistance in Vietnam, and the movement at home, defeated the gross giant of the US state. This movement is bigger than that ever was.”
Emma Kamio is the mother of Ellie Kamio, a member of the Filton 18 currently facing charges for disruption at Elbit Systems. She said, “If ever there was a time that non-violent direct action is justified, it is now.
“Activists are being prosecuted, but when Britain breaks international law, there are no consequences. We must stand together, we must resist together.”
If the British state gets away with proscribing Palestine Action and silencing solidarity, it will go after others.
It’s vital to say, “Defend Palestine Action”—and to keep speaking up for Palestine and against state repression.
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Palestine activists elated after judge’s ruling
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Plus: How the Israeli far right are building off the far right in Britain
