Britain's top cop defends arrest of OAP priest, 83, at banned Palestine Action protest — ‘law has no age limit'
Retired priest the Reverend Sue Parfitt was held on Saturday, the day the group was banned under terror laws.
2
2
Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: 'The law doesn't have an age limit, whether you're 18 or 80.
"If you're supporting proscribed groups, then the law is going to be enforced.'
Rev Parfitt appeared to be showing placards in support of Palestine Action at the Parliament Square demo.
In total, 29 people were arrested.
All have been bailed pending further enquiries.
Palestine Action was banned after vandalising aircraft at RAF Brize Norton on June 20.
prison.
Yesterday Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, 81, faced calls to be prosecuted for labelling Palestine Action a 'great organisation' in a video.
Waters, 81, also praised rapper Bob Vylan - who led chants of 'death to the IDF' at the Glastonbury festival.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism vowed to bring a private prosecution if the rocker was not charged.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said it would seek to bring a private prosecution if he was not charged.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Ministers urged to keep care plans for children with special needs
Ministers are facing calls to not cut education plans for children and young people with special needs and disabilities (Send).Campaigners say education, health and care plans (EHCPs) are "precious legal protections", warning that thousands of children could lose access to education if the plans are government has said it inherited the current system "left on its knees". Speaking on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson described it as a "complex and sensitive area" when asked if she could rule out scrapping Neil O'Brien, the shadow education minister, has criticised the government for "broken promises and U-turns". An EHCP is a legally binding document which ensures a child or young person with special or educational needs gets the right support from a local details of the proposed changes are due in October, but ministers have not ruled out scrapping the education plans, insisting no decisions have been a letter to the Guardian newspaper, campaigners have said that without the documents in mainstream schools, "many thousands of children risk being denied vital provision, or losing access to education altogether"."Whatever the Send system's problems, the answer is not to remove the rights of children and young people. Families cannot afford to lose these precious legal protections," they to the letter include the heads of charities, professors, Send parents including actor Sally Phillips, and campaigners including broadcaster Chris to the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Ms Phillipson saidL"What I can say very clearly is that we will strengthen and put in place better support for children."I've been spending a lot of time listening to parents, to disability rights groups, to campaigners and to others and to colleagues across Parliament as well, because it's important to get this right," she added, but said it is "tough".Mr O'Brien, the shadow minister, said the government had "no credibility left"."This is a government defined by broken promises and u-turns. They said they would employ more teachers and they have fewer. They said they would not raise tax on working people but did," Mr O'Brien from the Department for Education released in June showed that the number of EHCPs has total, there were 638,745 EHCPs in place in January 2025, up 10.8% on the same point last number of new plans which started during 2024 also grew by 15.8% on the previous year, to 97, for children to be assessed for EHCPs rose by 11.8% to 154,489 in 2023.A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We have been clear that there are no plans to abolish Send tribunals, or to remove funding or support from children, families and schools."The spokesperson added that it would be "totally inaccurate to suggest that children, families and schools might experience any loss of funding or support".
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Wimbledon expansion plan goes into legal tie-break
LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) - Wimbledon fans will have eyes only for the tennis this week but for those who run the world's oldest and most prestigious Grand Slam, the real high-stakes contest will unfold not on their grass, but in London's Royal Courts of Justice. On one side of the legal net is the campaign group Save Wimbledon Park, while facing them in a judicial review of their ambitious expansion plan on Tuesday and Wednesday will be the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC). It is the latest stage of a long-running fight that has split the south-west London "village", which has been home to the Championships since 1877. Last September the AELTC secured planning permission from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to treble the size of the main site to include 39 new courts including an 8,000-seat show court by redeveloping a former golf course on parkland land it already owns. The 200-million-pound ($272.92-million) expansion aims to increase daily capacity to 50,000 people from the current 42,000, upgrade facilities and move the qualifying rounds on site to mirror the Australian, French, and U.S. Opens. The plans have the backing of several leading players, including Novak Djokovic, and 62% of 10,000 residents in Merton and Wandsworth, the London boroughs that share the new site, also support the scheme, according to the AELTC. 'Our confidence in the development and the proposals that we've been working on for many years is as strong as it ever has been,' Wimbledon tournament director Jamie Baker told Reuters. 'For the championships to continue to be in the position that it is and to deliver all the benefits to stakeholders including the local community it is vital that we are able to stage the tournament on one site and bring all the grounds together." However, this week's judicial review will decide whether the GLA's decision to grant planning permission was unlawful. Opponents of the development, including Thelma Ruby, a 100-year-old former actress who lives in a flat overlooking the park, and West Hill Ward Councillor Malcolm Grimston, say the club's plans will cause environmental damage and major disruption to the area. 'It's terribly important that it does not go ahead not just for myself but for the whole planet and future generations," Ruby told Reuters. "I overlook this beautiful landscape and there are all sorts of covenants that say you mustn't build on it, and yet the tennis people have this unnecessary plan they admit will cut down all these glorious trees, which will harm wildlife. 'They're using concrete, building roads, they're going to have lorries polluting and passing my window every 10 minutes. The whole area will be in chaos as they're closing off roads,' she said. Save Wimbledon Park says the GLA failed to consider covenants that were agreed by the AELTC, including restrictions on redeveloping the land, when it bought the Wimbledon Park golf course freehold from Merton council in 1993 for 5.2 million pounds. The AELTC paid a reported 63.5 million pounds to buy the Golf Club's lease, which was due to run until 2041. The campaign group also believes the GLA failed to consider the land's statutory Public Recreation Trust status which means it should be held as "public walks or pleasure grounds". 'It is not antipathy towards the AELTC that's driving this, as some of the benefits are real, such as the extension of lake,' councillor Grimston told Reuters. 'The problem is that it will treble the footprint of the current Championship and turn what currently has very much a feel of being rural England and a gentle pace of life into an industrial complex that would dominate the views of the lake. 'That's why it's classified as Metropolitan Open Land, which is the urban equivalent of the green belt that has been protected for many decades in planning law in the UK and rightly so,' he said. The AELTC say the plans will improve the biodiversity of the park, as well as bringing parts of it back into public use. 'The London Wildlife trust have endorsed the plans, they've spent many hours scrutinising our analysis and our expert views," the AELTC's head of corporate affairs Dominic Foster said. "We know that this expansion will deliver a very significant benefit to biodiversity, whereas golf courses are not good for biodiversity.' ($1 = 0.7328 pounds)
Sky News
3 hours ago
- Sky News
Post Office scandal: Victims say government's control of redress schemes should be taken away
Post Office scandal victims are calling for redress schemes to be taken away from the government completely, ahead of the public inquiry publishing its first findings. Phase 1, which is due back on Tuesday, will report on the human impact of what happened as well as compensation schemes. "Take (them) off the government completely," says Jo Hamilton OBE, a high-profile campaigner and former sub-postmistress, who was convicted of stealing from her branch in 2008. "It's like the fox in charge of the hen house," she adds, "because they were the only shareholders of Post Office". "So they're in it up to their necks... So why should they be in charge of giving us financial redress?" Jo and others are hoping Sir Wyn Williams, chairman of the public statutory inquiry, will make recommendations for an independent body to take control of redress schemes. The inquiry has been examining the Post Office scandal which saw more than 700 people wrongfully convicted between 1999 and 2015. Sub-postmasters were forced to pay back false accounting shortfalls because of the faulty IT system, Horizon. At the moment, the Department for Business and Trade administers most of the redress schemes including the Horizon Conviction Redress Scheme and the Group Litigation Order (GLO) Scheme. The Post Office is still responsible for the Horizon Shortfall scheme. Lee Castleton OBE, another victim of the scandal, was bankrupted in 2007 when he lost his case in the civil courts representing himself against the Post Office. The civil judgment against him, however, still stands. "It's the oddest thing in the world to be an OBE, fighting for justice, while still having the original case standing against me," he tells Sky News. While he has received an interim payment he has not applied to a redress scheme. "The GLO scheme - that's there on the table for me to do," he says, "but I know that they would use my original case, still standing against me, in any form of redress. "So they would still tell me repeatedly that the court found me to be liable and therefore they only acted on the court's outcome." He agrees with other victims who want the inquiry this week to recommend "taking the bad piece out" of redress schemes. "The bad piece is the company - Post Office Limited," he continues, "and the government - they need to be outside. "When somebody goes to court, even if it's a case against the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), when they go to court DBT do not decide what the outcome is. "A judge decides, a third party decides, a right-minded individual a fair individual, that's what needs to happen." Mr Castleton is also taking legal action against the Post Office and Fujitsu - the first individual victim to sue the organisations for compensation and "vindication" in court. "I want to hear why it happened, to hear what I believe to be the truth, to hear what they believe to be the truth and let the judge decide." Neil Hudgell, a lawyer for victims, said he expects the first inquiry report this week may be "really rather damning" of the redress claim process describing "inconsistencies", "bureaucracy" and "delays". "The over-lawyeringness of it," he adds, "the minute analysis, micro-analysis of detail, the inability to give people fully the benefit of doubt. "All those things I think are going to be part and parcel of what Sir Wynn says about compensation. "And we would hope, not going to say expect because history's not great, we would hope it's a springboard to an acceleration, a meaningful acceleration of that process." 11:28 A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said they were "grateful" for the inquiry's work describing "the immeasurable suffering" victims endured. Their statement continued: "This government has quadrupled the total amount paid to affected postmasters to provide them with full and fair redress, with more than £1bn having now been paid to thousands of claimants. "We will also continue to work with the Post Office, who have already written to over 24,000 postmasters, to ensure that everyone who may be eligible for redress is given the opportunity to apply for it."
