Andy Rain / EPA
Protest in favor of the Palestinian Action Group in London
A recent change to the United Kingdom Law of Terrorism declares the Palestinian Action Protest Group a terrorist organization and provides up to 14 years in prison for those who support the group. The law is being condemned for violating freedom of expression.
This Saturday, 71 people were detained all over the UK who were protesting against the recent change to the law of terrorism, which Include the Palestinian Action Group as a terrorist organization.
With this change, anyone who says or gives any indication that they support the group can be arrested, as defending a terrorist organization is a crime. The police forces of London, Cardiff and Manchester made several arrests on suspicion of terrorism crimes.
Two groups of protesters focused on Parliament Square in London, shortly after 1 pm on Saturday. Several held posters with the messages: “I oppose genocide, support for Palestinian action“.
Protesters were also lying on each other while the police searched bags and seized documents and posters.
Metropolitan Police advance that police will arrest people caught “sing hymns, wear clothes or display articles such as flags, plates or logos ”that indicate support for Palestinian action.
Those who dispute the new law can face up to 14 years in prison. It is the first time in the UK history that a protest group was classified as a terrorist organization.
“A worrying precedent”
The Palestinian action has been involved in protests aimed at mostly weaponry companies. The decision to classify the organization as a terrorist was taken after the group have sprayed with paint Two Voyager aircraft.
In July, the House of Common approved the amendment of legislation to prohibit Palestinian action. Interior Secretary Yvette Cooper justified the decision by saying that the group had a “long history” of criminal damage.
“Its activity has increased at frequency and gravity. The United Kingdom defense initiative is vital to national security and this government will not tolerate those who put this security at risk,” he said.
According to, the Interior Ministry believes that the group is being funded by Iran, despite not having evidence of this claim. A spokesman for Palestinian Action rejected these accusations: “It is an unfounded investigation and ridiculous. We are funded by ordinary people who support us. They are trying to create a defamation campaign to justify the ban, ”he told.
The decision of the British government is being highly criticized by human rights groups. Bond, a network of foreign humanitarian organizations, said it was “very concerned” with the decision because creates a “worrying precedent” for future protests and activism.
Sacha Deshmukh, executive director of the United Kingdom, also describes the prohibition as a “illegal interference” in the fundamental rights of peaceful meeting and freedom of expression and a “serious abuse of anti -terrorist power“.” Forbidding Palestinian action means that millions of people living in the UK will have limitations on their freedom of expression, “he warned.
A panel of experts used similar arguments. “Although there is no binding definition of terrorism in international law, international best practices limit terrorism to criminal acts designed to cause death, serious personal injuries or hostage,” they say, noting that “according to international standards, protest acts that damage property, but do not intend to kill or hurt peopleshould not be treated as terrorism. ”
Labor government calls Israel have also questioned its impartiality when declaring the Palestinian action a terrorist group. An investigation of the discovered that a pro-Israel lobby made donations 13 of the 25 government members since they were elected to Parliament, including Yvette Cooper and Prime Minister Keir Stmerer. In total, the donations exceed 300 thousand pounds.
In a video published by the alternative medium Double Down News, journalist George Monbiot rocks Yvette Cooper’s description of Palestinian action protests as a “shameful attack.”
“Yvette Cooper has never used the words ‘shameful attack’ about any of the Israeli government has done to Palestinians. This is Orwellian, people who are trying to lock a genocide are being considered terrorist by Those who are accomplices of this genocide“He criticized.
Monbiot also resembles several examples of protests similar to those of the Palestinian action that were acquitted in court. In 1996, four women were unblemished after sabotaging planes produced in the United Kingdom for the Indonesian government, which was at the time occupying Timor-Leste. Something similar happened in 2003, when activists interrupted the fuel supply of airplanes that were used in the war in Iraq – one of these activists was even represented in court by Keir Stmerer.
In response to the decision, the Palestinian action accused the British government of being the true criminal: “The true crime here is not the sprayed red ink in these war planes, but the war crimes that were allowed with these planes due to complicity of the UK government in the genocide of Israel ”.
