Latest news with #PalestinianAction
The Guardian
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Palestine activists arrested in London next to Gandhi statue
People holding signs holding signs referencing Palestinian Action have been arrested by police, a day after the group was proscribed a terrorist organisation. More than two dozen people gathered close to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square in London, holding signs that appeared to express support for the group. At about 1:40pm, Metropolitan police officers began arresting activists who held the signs. More details soon …
Business Recorder
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
PARTLY FACETIOUS: The deep state in power in most of world's democracies?
'So going back to a former Interior Minister…' 'Granted that he did not win the 2024 elections…your cough is as artificial as…as…as…' 'Can't think of anyone – governments all over the world are taking decisions that are shameful to say the least. The UK government has banned the Palestinian Action because its members spray-painted one of their aeroplanes and the country's prime minister together with many of his cabinet members condemned the chant of death to Israeli Defence Force (IDF) at the Glastonbury music festival as a hate crime that is…' 'I don't get it. Cartoons of our Prophet are freedom of speech, while these two events are hate crimes?' 'Well, they are protecting their way of life.' 'You need to do what analysts are doing in the US for some time now – pointing to a divide, a widening divide between those in government and the public that voted them into power.' 'Hamm right, so in other words the deep state is in power in most of the world's democracies which explains why their foreign policy is based on history that doesn't go beyond…' 'Beyond 2022 as far as the Ukraine war is concerned and 7 October 2023 as far as the Israelis are concerned.' 'Indeed, so the Western way of life that must be protected at all costs does not look at the historical context or the entry of two more superpowers on the world scene – China and Russia and…' 'But what did you begin by referring to a former interior minister? You reckon the Chief Minister has forgiven him for daring to say he will not support the passing down of the inheritance to blood…' 'She is not known for forgiving…' 'That reminds me where is her husband and children and…' 'You know it's damned if she does and damned if she doesn't as far as you are concerned. Appreciate the fact that the only family member she is allowing herself to be photographed with is daddy and no one else.' 'Hamm, her picture with or without daddy is plastered all over Punjab with no more than 100 meters between each picture…' 'That's for the hapless Punjabis with little access to beauty and poise and…' 'You being facetious?' 'Over exposure makes the heart grow weaker.' 'There is no such expression…' 'OK going back to the former Interior Minister there are some who say he is the only one who The Man Who Must Remain Nameless and Faceless will agree to talk to, and he has strong ties with the deep state, though time and again The Man Who Must Remain Nameless and Faceless has said he will only negotiate with the establishment.' 'So how deep is the state?' 'Don't be facetious.' 'No, seriously, I want to know.' 'Deeper than a sinkhole that suddenly appears in front of you, and you have no time or means to avoid it.' Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
The National
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The National
I'm an SNP MP. Here's why we abstained on proscribing Palestine Action
This week the Government presented MPs with a take-it or leave-it, indivisible package which lumped Palestinian Action into the mix with two other groups, the Murder Maniac Cult and the Russian Imperial Movement. The Murder Maniac Cult is an extremely violent white supremacist, neo-Nazi organisation, whose leader is accused of plotting to have people dressed as Santa Claus, hand out sweets laced with poison to Jewish and other racial minority children at Jewish schools in Brooklyn. The Russian Imperial Movement is also a neo-Nazi, white supremacist, ultranationalist group which recruited and trained thousands of volunteers to fight for Russia in Ukraine. It is known to be active in Europe and in North America. READ MORE: The 26 MPs who voted against proscribing Palestine Action – see the list The third group on the Government's list for proscription was Palestinian Action. A group whose only objective is to protest the genocide being committed in Gaza. A genocide that the UK Government is perpetuating and supporting. Despite being asked, the UK Government, in a disgraceful, cynical, manipulation of parliamentary procedure, refused to separate these groups and allow MPs to make individual decisions on whether each of them met the threshold for proscription – forcing an all or nothing vote. And that decision to lump all three groups together in the way that they did should lead any reasonable person to conclude that this was a grubby political decision to proscribe a group that the Government simply don't like, and not what the Government claim was an issue of vital national security. But of course, if this really was about national security, why did the UK Government not proscribe Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps? In opposition, the Labour Party rightly campaigned for the IRGC to be proscribed, but despite the opportunity now, they have decided to proscribe a group which opposes war and terror, rather than one which perpetuates it. But there is a much wider issue at play here, and that is the serious long-term consequences that this illiberal, profoundly undemocratic and entirely disproportionate decision will have on our fundamental right to protest, and our ability to organise, assemble, and campaign. It is not far-fetched to say that rather than differentiate themselves from the far right that they fear, the Labour Party have made a decision which sets them on a path of authoritarianism. There is in the UK, a long tradition of direct action being taken by protest movements. For decades – from the Suffragettes to the women of Greenham Common, to the anti-apartheid movement, to Greenpeace, even to the Quakers protesting outside the gates of Faslane – committed individuals have broken the law because of strong moral or religious beliefs, or to highlight their cause in the hope of changing government policy. READ MORE: 20 to protest Palestine Action ban at Gandhi Statue on July 5 And throughout those decades those involved in direct action have done so in the full understanding that there will be consequences for their actions, and that, if they have broken the law, they will be held to account by the courts. The UK already has in place robust domestic legislation which can adequately deal with any criminality which may arise because of direct action by protest group, as so I believe there was absolutely no need for the UK Government to create this very dangerous precedent by proscribing Palestinian Action as a terrorist organisation. Though I hope that through doing so, the Labour Government exposes the lengths it is willing to go to oppress and silence those who advocate for a free Palestine and who protest the end of the UK Government's support of Israeli war crimes. I fear that this decision will have long-term consequences, particularly as the UK continues to flirt with the populist right. Significantly lowering the bar as to what is and is not terrorism now will, I fear, be seized upon and exploited should the extreme right come to power at Westminster. And we should be in no doubt that that will happen. One only needs to look back to 1999 and the debate which surrounded the introduction of the Terrorism Act. We should all be concerned as to just how far we have travelled in a relatively short space of time. During the debate on of the Terrorism Act, the case of the Greenpeace activists who breached the security fence at both Aldermaston and Sellafield in 1995 to block the production of arms and weapons-grade plutonium was raised, which included dumping six tonnes of cement to block a waste outlet pipe. The then minister of state for the Home Office, Charles Clarke, made it clear that, 'if [direct action] groups do not engage in serious violence […] the new definition cannot catch them'. The then – Labour - home secretary Jack Straw (below) went further, specifically confirming to MPs that the definition of terrorism in the new act would exclude direct action groups such as Greenpeace. The activities of Greenpeace in 1995 far surpass anything Palestinian Action have done to date, yet they are now proscribed as a terrorist organisation. We are on a slippery slope. This week it is Palestinian Action, next week, will it be Just Stop Oil, or Greenpeace? And how long will it be, I wonder, until a future UK government deems the activities of The Quakers to be a threat to national security? This is a bad law. One which was formulated in anger, driven by revenge and bulldozed through the House of Commons in the most cynical fashion, by a government whose moral compass is becoming a far-distant memory.
Miami Herald
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Met Police bans pro-Palestinian demonstration in front of Parliament
June 23 (UPI) -- Britain's Met police banned a pro-Palestinian protest in front of the Houses of Parliament in central London scheduled to take place on Monday to "prevent serious public order," property damage and disruption to elected representatives. Met Commissioner Mark Rowley said in a statement Sunday that while he could not stop the demonstration going ahead, he was using powers under public order legislation to impose an exclusion zone preventing protestors from assembling in a roughly 0.5 square mile area around the Palace of Westminster and restrict the duration to between noon and 3 p.m. local time. The We Are All Palestine protest was being organized by Palestine Action but backed by around 35 other groups, including the Stop the War Coalition, Cage and Muslim Engagement and Development. Calling Palestine Action "an extremist criminal group" with members awaiting trial on serious charges, Rowley said he was frustrated that he lacked legal authority to ban the protest outright. "The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest," he said. Rowley added that criminal charges faced by Palestine Action members, including allegedly attacking a police officer with a sledgehammer and causing millions of dollars of damage, represented extremism of a type that the vast majority of the public found abhorrent. Palestinian Action responded by moving the protest, telling supporters in a post on X early Monday that it would now go ahead in Trafalgar Square, which is just outside the northern edge of the exclusion zone. "The Metropolitan police are trying to deter support from Palestine Action by banning the protest from taking place at the Houses of Parliament. Don't let them win! Make sure everyone is aware of the location change to Trafalgar Square, London. Mobilize from 12 p.m." The move came as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper updated lawmakers on plans to proscribe Palestinian Action as a terrorist organization after members of the group claimed responsibility for damaging military aircraft Friday after breaking into an RAF base northwest of London. They also allegedly damaged the offices of an insurance company, which the group claimed provided services to Elbit Systems, an Israel-based military technology company and defense contractor. Activist Saeed Taji Farouky called the move to proscribe the group a ludicrous move that "rips apart the very basic concepts of British democracy and the rule of law." "It's something everyone should be terrified about," he told the BBC. Cooper said in a written statement to the House that she expected to bring a draft order amending the country's anti-terror legislation before Parliament next week. Proscribing Palestine Action would make membership or promotion of the group punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Palestinian Action, escalated from targeting arms producers to vandalizing the two Airbus refuelling tanker aircraft because Britain was, it claimed, deploying aircraft to its Akrotiri airbase on Cyprus from where it can "collect intelligence, refuel fighter jets and transport weapons to commit genocide in Gaza." The attack at RAF Brize Norton, the British military's main hub for strategic air transport and refuelling, including flights to RAF Akrotiri, came the same day a British man appeared in a closed court in Cyprus on charges of planning an "imminent terrorist attack" on the island and espionage. The suspect was arrested by Greek anti-terror officers on a tip-off from a foreign intelligence service claiming he'd had the RAF Akrotiri base under surveillance since April and had links with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He faces charges of terrorism, espionage, conspiracy to commit a felony and other related offences. RAF Akrotiri is the U.K. military's largest base for the Middle East region and a key waypoint en route to its giant Diego Garcia base in the Chagos Islands, 3,800 miles to the southeast in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
UPI
23-06-2025
- Politics
- UPI
Met Police bans pro-Palestinian demonstration in front of Parliament
June 23 (UPI) -- Britain's Met police banned a pro-Palestinian protest in front of the Houses of Parliament in central London scheduled to take place on Monday to "prevent serious public order," property damage and disruption to elected representatives. Met Commissioner Mark Rowley said in a statement Sunday that while he could not stop the demonstration going ahead, he was using powers under public order legislation to impose an exclusion zone preventing protestors from assembling in a roughly 0.5 square mile area around the Palace of Westminster and restrict the duration to between noon and 3 p.m. local time. The We Are All Palestine protest was being organized by Palestine Action but backed by around 35 other groups, including the Stop the War Coalition, Cage and Muslim Engagement and Development. Calling Palestine Action "an extremist criminal group" with members awaiting trial on serious charges, Rowley said he was frustrated that he lacked legal authority to ban the protest outright. "The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest," he said. Rowley added that criminal charges faced by Palestine Action members, including allegedly attacking a police officer with a sledgehammer and causing millions of dollars of damage, represented extremism of a type that the vast majority of the public found abhorrent. Palestinian Action responded by moving the protest, telling supporters in a post on X early Monday that it would now go ahead in Trafalgar Square, which is just outside the northern edge of the exclusion zone. "The Metropolitan police are trying to deter support from Palestine Action by banning the protest from taking place at the Houses of Parliament. Don't let them win! Make sure everyone is aware of the location change to Trafalgar Square, London. Mobilize from 12 p.m." The move came as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper updated lawmakers on plans to proscribe Palestinian Action as a terrorist organization after members of the group claimed responsibility for damaging military aircraft Friday after breaking into an RAF base northwest of London. They also allegedly damaged the offices of an insurance company, which the group claimed provided services to Elbit Systems, an Israel-based military technology company and defense contractor. Activist Saeed Taji Farouky called the move to proscribe the group a ludicrous move that "rips apart the very basic concepts of British democracy and the rule of law." "It's something everyone should be terrified about," he told the BBC. Cooper said in a written statement to the House that she expected to bring a draft order amending the country's anti-terror legislation before Parliament next week. Proscribing Palestine Action would make membership or promotion of the group punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Palestinian Action, escalated from targeting arms producers to vandalizing the two Airbus refuelling tanker aircraft because Britain was, it claimed, deploying aircraft to its Akrotiri airbase on Cyprus from where it can "collect intelligence, refuel fighter jets and transport weapons to commit genocide in Gaza." The attack at RAF Brize Norton, the British military's main hub for strategic air transport and refuelling, including flights to RAF Akrotiri, came the same day a British man appeared in a closed court in Cyprus on charges of planning an "imminent terrorist attack" on the island and espionage. The suspect was arrested by Greek anti-terror officers on a tip-off from a foreign intelligence service claiming he'd had the RAF Akrotiri base under surveillance since April and had links with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He faces charges of terrorism, espionage, conspiracy to commit a felony and other related offences. RAF Akrotiri is the U.K. military's largest base for the Middle East region and a key waypoint en route to its giant Diego Garcia base in the Chagos Islands, 3,800 miles to the southeast in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
