Justice has no age limit warns Met commissioner after Palestine Action protester, 83, is arrested

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

The head of the Metropolitan Police has said the law 'does not have an age limit' after an 83-year-old reverend was arrested for supporting Palestine Action, which has been banned as a terror group.
The Met Police said officers were responding to the demonstration in Parliament Square, London, and later added that 29 people were arrested.
The protest started at about 1.10pm and officers were seen taking people away shortly after 1.30pm.
Reverend Sue Parfitt, 83, who was sat in a camp chair with placards at her feet, appeared to have been taken away by officers.
A woman seen lying on the ground in handcuffs was lifted by officers and put in a police van.
Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley was asked on the BBC 's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg whether it was a good use of police time after the priest was pictured being taken away from the demonstration.
He said: 'The law doesn't have an age limit, whether you're 18 or 80.
'If you're supporting proscribed organisations, then the law is going to be enforced.
'Officers, you could see, did it with great care and tried to preserve that person's dignity, but they're breaking a serious law.
'Palestine Action have over the last 18 months, I have to be careful what I say, because there's cases coming to trial, but some really serious criminal offences that they're accused of. There are millions of pounds worth of damage on multiple occasions. There are assaults, there are weapons used.
'It is not about protest. This is about an organisation committing serious criminality and obviously the Home Secretary was persuaded by the papers on her desk to proscribe them, that law has come into force, and if people want to defy that law, then we have to enforce it.'
Palestine Action lost a late-night Court of Appeal challenge on Friday which sought to stop the protest group being banned, less than two hours before the new legislation came into force at midnight.
Around two dozen people, including a professor and an emergency care worker who recently returned from Gaza, sat in front of the Gandhi statue in Parliament Square on Saturday expressing support for the group, which is now a proscribed terrorist organisation.
They held signs saying: 'I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.'
Shortly after their arrival, police officers could be seen engaging with the protesters and the Met said it had began making arrests. Several people were seen being carried away by officers.
A spokesperson for the force said: 'The group is now proscribed and expressing support for them is a criminal offence. Arrests are being made.'
Campaign group Defend Our Juries said today's protest will be the first in a series of actions which will see activists take to Parliament Square every week.
Around 20 people, including a priest, professor and an emergency care worker who is just back from Gaza, sat in front of the Gandhi statue in Parliament Square on Saturday expressing support for the group
It comes after the Home Office today welcomed the ban on Palestine Action, with the group failing to block its proscription as a terrorist organisation in a late-night legal bid.
Lawyers representing co-founder Huda Ammori, whose father is Palestinian, asked for the decision to be delayed at least until July 21.
The designation as a terror group means that membership of or support for Palestine Action is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Palestine Action argues it is a protest group that has never incited or encouraged violence, but does support civil disobedience.
Activists protest against the continuing war in Gaza, which has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians since October 7 - when 1,200 Israelis were killed by a Hamas incursion into the country.
One of those protesting today is former government lawyer Tim Crosland. He said: 'There are already 18 Palestine Actionists held in UK prisons without a trial, following lobbying by the Israeli government and Elbit Systems, the leading supplier of the machinery of genocide.
'If we cannot speak freely about the genocide of Palestinians, if we cannot condemn those who enable it and praise those who resist it, then the right to freedom of expression has no meaning, and democracy in this country is dead.'
The Met Police issued a warning ahead of the protest, stating there are a number of events taking place in London this weekend and 'anyone attending should be aware that officers policing these will act where criminal offences, including those related to support of proscribed groups or organisations, are committed'.
Proscription makes it a criminal offence under the Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT) to invite or express support for an organisation through chanting, wearing clothing or displaying articles such as flags, signs or logos, the Met said.
It is also illegal to belong to the organisation or publish similar signs of support online.
Police arresting protesters in Parliament Square were met with cries of 'Met Police you are puppets of the Zionist state' and 'leave them alone'.
Another supporter, not directly involved in the Palestine Action protest, shouted: 'Who do you protect? Who do you serve?'
There were also chants of 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free'.
A woman seen lying on the floor in handcuffs was carried away in the air by officers and put in a police van.
While suspended and flanked by a large group of police, she said calmly: 'Free Palestine, stop the genocide, I oppose genocide, I support the rights of the Palestinian people, I support freedom of speech, I support freedom of assembly'.
A mass of people crowded around to film the scene.
Officers placed her in the vehicle parked on the road behind the square before returning to the Mahatma Ghandi statue, where almost no protesters remained.
Chants of 'shame' broke out, directed at the police, and officers moved behind the Ghandi statue. Most of the police dispersed at around 2.10pm.
One of those seen at today's protest is 83-year-old Reverend Sue Parfitt, who has previously been arrested for action she took to call for urgent change to tackle the climate crisis.
The group's social media pages were removed overnight on Friday, with leaders stating this was due to the risk of people being prosecuted for liking or sharing posts online
She was previously arrested for allegedly attempting to damage the Magna Carta with Just Stop Oil, and for protest action with Insulate Britain.
Leslie Tate, 76, a Green councillor from Hertfordshire at the protest, said: 'Palestine Action are not a violent organisation, and the proscription is wrong.
'You do know, of course, that they were proscribed by Parliament with two other groups involved - all three at once - so that was a trick to make sure the Bill went through.
'The evidence from their actions that they've taken from the start of Palestine Action is that they all have been non-violent.
'This protest is necessary to defend our democracy, and this is the creeping edge of totalitarianism, frankly.
'We thought they (the police) would probably take pictures of people. It's the obvious thing to do, to photograph them, then they have their identity, rather than make arrests.'
Paddy Friend, a 25-year-old law student from London who was watching the protest said: 'In 2025, we no longer have freedom of speech. We can no longer go down to Parliament Square and hold a sign.
'I'm here because I'm terrified. I'm absolutely terrified about this country and I hope to be as brave as these people (protesting), I really do because we cannot let this happen.
'If now isn't the time for hundreds and thousands of us to come together and stand against this, then when's it going to be?
'All arms exports (to Israel) need to stop. We need to stop providing military assistance, we need to cut off all diplomatic ties with Israel.'
It came after Palestine Action lost a late-night Court of Appeal challenge on Friday evening, which sought to stop it being banned, less than two hours before the move came into force at midnight.
Large crowds gathered outside the Court of Appeal yesterday in support of Palestinians.
The group's social media pages were removed overnight on Friday, with leaders stating this was due to the risk of people being prosecuted for liking or sharing posts online.
A Home Office spokesperson said on Saturday: 'We welcome the Court's decision and Palestine Action are now a proscribed group.
'The Government will always take the strongest possible action to protect our national security and our priority remains maintaining the safety and security of our citizens.'
The move to ban the organisation was announced after two Voyager aircraft were damaged at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on June 20, an incident claimed by Palestine Action, which police said caused around £7 million of damage.
In a letter to the Home Secretary, protesters said: 'We do not wish to go to prison or to be branded with a terrorism conviction. But we refuse to be cowed into silence by your order.'
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action on June 23, stating that the vandalism of the two planes was 'disgraceful' and that the group had a 'long history of unacceptable criminal damage'.
MPs in the Commons voted 385 to 26, majority 359, in favour of proscribing the group on Wednesday, before the House of Lords backed the move without a vote on Thursday.
Four people - Amy Gardiner-Gibson, 29, Jony Cink, 24, Daniel Jeronymides-Norie, 36, and Lewis Chiaramello, 22 - have all been charged in connection with the incident at Brize Norton.
They appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday after being charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the United Kingdom, and conspiracy to commit criminal damage, under the Criminal Law Act 1977.