UK police arrest four after pro-Palestinian protest at military base

Al Jazeera

2 days ago

UK police have arrested four people in connection with a pro-Palestinian protest last week, in which military planes were vandalised at an airbase in England in an action claimed by the Palestine Action group.
Two activists from Palestine Action broke into the Royal Air Force base in Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, on June 20, damaging and spraying red paint over two planes used for refuelling and transport.
A woman, 29, and two men aged 36 and 24, were arrested on Friday on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of 'terrorism', while another woman, 41, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, according to a statement by Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE).
The four arrests were made in London and Berkshire, in southeastern England, it said.
Palestine Action condemned the arrests, accusing the government of being 'in the pocket of the weapons companies arming Israel's war crimes'.
It accused authorities of 'cracking down on non-violent protests which disrupt the flow of arms to Israel during its genocide in Palestine'.
The group posted footage online last Friday showing people inside the base, with one person appearing to ride an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker, before spraying paint into its jet engine.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the act as 'disgraceful'.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper made the decision to proscribe Palestine Action following the incident, with the arrests coming just one week before the ban is set to come into force. If parliament approves the proscription, support for the group would become a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Cooper has said its methods have become 'more aggressive', with its members showing a 'willingness to use violence' and that 'such incidents do not represent legitimate or peaceful protest'.
'Proscribing Palestine Action is a political gesture to satisfy pro-Israel groups and arms companies who have been lobbying for us to be banned because we're hitting their profits and having a real impact on Israel's war machine,' said one of its spokespeople on X. The group also said the move was an attack on free speech and an 'unhinged reaction'.
The government also said last week that it was reviewing security across all British defence sites following the incident.
Palestine Action has staged other demonstrations, including spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint and vandalising US President Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire, southern Scotland.