Pro-Palestine demonstrators hit out as MPs prepare to debate Palestine Action ban
MPs are currently debating a motion to proscribe Palestine Action as a terror organisation after two planes were vandalised at RAF Brize Norton on June 20.
Five people have since been arrested on suspicion of a terror offence in relation to the incident.
Speaking to The Independent while demonstrating outside of Parliament, David Collins, a retired veteran who served with the Marines for nine years, said: 'In comparison to the some of the atrocities that this government is approving - and sending arms to Israel - amongst some people that is justified action.'
'They are war planes that can be repaired. There was nobody hurt. I would say that is a legitimate form of protest', the ex-marine - who is not linked to Palestine Action - added.
Jonathan Fluxman, 69, a retired doctor who was also demonstrating on Wednesday, said the ban is 'utterly ridiculous'.
'Palestine action are a direct action group - they are avowedly non-violent and I think this is much more about them embarrassing the British government by being incredibly effective in terms of interrupting the flow of weapons from Britain to Israel to try and stop the awful, awful genocide', he said.
On Tuesday, two arrests were made after Palestine Action claimed to have blockaded the entrance of an Israeli defence company's UK headquarters.
A spokesperson for the group said activists had blocked the entrance to Elbit Systems in Bristol and covered it in red paint 'to symbolise Palestinian bloodshed'.
Kat, another protester who was demonstrating outside of Parliament on Wednesday morning, accused the government of a 'complete clampdown on our right to protest'.
She said: 'There are many groups that use the same tactics and have used the same tactics in the past and they've never had this extreme a response to it.
'I think they're shutting it down because its effective. It is making an impact on the profits of Elbit Systems who is Israel's largest weapons manufacturer.'
But home secretary Yvette Cooper said 'violence and serious criminal damage has no place in legitimate protest'.
'The right to protest and the right to free speech are the cornerstone of our democracy and there are countless campaign groups that freely exercise those rights', she added.
Meanwhile, the prime minister said the action at RAF Brize Norton was "disgraceful," criticising the activists for carrying out an "act of vandalism."
Shadow Conservative home secretary Chris Philp also condemned the group, saying: 'This attack on Britain's military is totally unjustified. They are undermining the very organisation that protects us all.
'Palestine Action should be pursued, prosecuted and banned for what they have done. In this country we settle disagreements through debate and democracy, not through acts of vandalism and violence.'
But a spokesperson for the group said: 'While the government is rushing through Parliament absurd legislation to proscribe Palestine Action, the real terrorism is being committed in Gaza.
'Palestine Action affirms that direct action is necessary in the face of Israel's ongoing crimes against humanity of genocide, apartheid, and occupation, and to end British facilitation of those crimes.'
Opening the debate in the Commons on Wednesday, security minister Dan Jarvis said proscription of the group would 'reaffirm the UK's zero tolerance approach to terrorism, regardless of its form, or underlying ideology'.
'Proscription is rightly ideologically neutral. It judges an organisation on its actions and the actions it is willing to deploy in pursuit of its cause', he said, adding that proscription is 'one of the most powerful counter terrorism tools available to government.'
'Any decision to prescribe is taken with great care and following rigorous consideration.'
Unveiling the intention to ban the group following the incident on June 23, Ms Cooper said it was the latest in a 'long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action'.
The group - which is seeking to bring a legal challenge against the government - has staged a series of demonstrations in recent months, including spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalising Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire.
Its website says they use disruptive tactics to target 'corporate enablers of the Israeli military-industrial complex' and seeks to make it 'impossible for these companies to profit from the oppression of Palestinians'.
Some 81 organisations have been proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and al-Qaida, far-right groups such as National Action, and Russian private military company the Wagner Group.
The draft order laid on Monday also lists neo-Nazi group Maniacs Murder Cult and far-right nationalist group Russian Imperial Movement, including its paramilitary arm Russian Imperial Legion, to be proscribed in the UK.
Belonging to or expressing support for a proscribed organisation, along with a number of other actions, are criminal offences carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
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