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The Herald Scotland
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Palestine Action ban: when does parliament vote take place?
Anyone doing so could face up to 14 years in prison, with previously proscribed organisations including ISIS, Al Qa'ida, and National Action. Here's what you need to know. Read More: What is happening? Following an act of vandalism by the group Palestine Action at RAF Brize Norton, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper wants to proscribe the group as a terrorist organisation. Doing so would make it an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison to belong to or support the group. She also cited an action by the group at the Thales factory in Glasgow which is said to have caused £1million of damage and frightened some staff. She will put the proscription order before parliament today, with two far-right groups, the Maniacs Murder Cult (MMC) and the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), also included. The Georgian leader of the MMC, Michail Chkhikvishvili, was extradited to the US earlier this year on charges of soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence in New York City, including a plot for the mass poisoning of Jewish people. The RIM is a white nationalist group which seeks to restore the Russian Empire and denies the holocaust took place. Can MPs vote to ban some of the groups and not others? No, they have to either back the proscription as a whole or reject it. Palestine Action believes the fact two neo-Nazi groups have been included in the order is a deliberate move to ensure the order passes - an MP voting against could then be accused of having not voted to ban the Maniacs Murder Cult and the Russian Imperial Movement. Protestors supporting Palestine Action When is the vote? The vote is due to take place in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon, probably around 5.30pm. If it passes, which it is expected to, it would then go before the House of Lords the following day. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper would then sign the ban into law on Friday, making it a criminal offence to support or be a member of Palestine Action from Saturday. Is it being challenged? Yes, Palestine Action has been granted an emergency hearing at the High Court on Friday. If the group is granted interim relief, it would delay the order coming into effect. PA is also seeking to have any potential decision overturned, with a provisional hearing at the High Court set for July 21. What has the government said? Ms Cooper said: "National security is the first duty of any government, we will always take the action needed to protect our democracy and national security against different threats. "Maniacs Murder Cult, Palestine Action and the Russian Imperial Movement have each passed the threshold for proscription based on clear national security evidence and assessments. "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. Violence and serious criminal damage has no place in legitimate protests." What have other people said? Many have pointed out that Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, once defended a man who had attempted to set a military jet on fire to prevent it from joining the aerial bombardment of Iraq. Others have argued that none of the actions taken by Palestine Action should be classed as terrorism. A group of United Nations experts said: "We are concerned at the unjustified labelling of a political protest movement as 'terrorist'. "According to international standards, acts of protest that damage property, but are not intended to kill or injure people, should not be treated as terrorism.' Amnesty International UK said in an open letter to MPs: "The question before parliament is not whether MPs think that Palestine Actions' approach is tasteful or distasteful, or even effective or ineffective. "If Palestine Action is proscribed this week, by the weekend any MP's constituents wearing a Palestine Action sticker, badge or T-shirt could face a terrorism charge. Do MPs and peers really believe that Palestine Action's activities justify such a grave misuse of anti-terrorism powers? 'The proscription of Palestine Action would be wholly unnecessary, disproportionate, and in violation of the right to freedom of association and expression amongst other human rights at risk should this harmful and dangerous motion proceed.'
Al-Ahram Weekly
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Palestine Action to challenge UK ban - War on Gaza
UK campaign group Palestine Action on Monday said it would challenge its planned proscription as a terrorist group, as the British government said it could be banned by the end of the week. The government announced last week plans to designate the pro-Palestinian group as a terrorist organisation after its activists broke into a British air force base and vandalised two planes. The group, which has condemned the move as an attack on free speech, said an urgent hearing to challenge the proscription will be held at the High Court in London on Friday. The challenge was backed by Amnesty International and other rights groups. Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, said in a statement the proposed ban would have "far-reaching implications" on "fundamental freedoms of speech, expression and assembly in Britain". After announcing the measure last week, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper launched the process to ban the group on Monday in parliament. The ban is set to be debated in parliament on Wednesday and Thursday, and could take effect from Friday. Labour holds a massive majority in the House of Commons, meaning the proposal should pass easily. Cooper also announced plans to proscribe two transnational groups at the same time: neo-Nazi organisation Maniacs Murder Cult (MMC) and the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM). RIM is a white supremacist group which seeks to create a new "Russian Imperial State", according to the government, and has fought alongside Russian forces against Ukraine via its paramilitary forces. "Maniacs Murder Cult, Palestine Action and the Russian Imperial Movement have each passed the threshold for proscription based on clear national security evidence and assessments," Cooper said in a statement. "Violence and serious criminal damage has no place in legitimate protests," she added. 'Steamroll' Palestine Action said it was seeking an injunction or interim relief from the courts "because of the Home Secretary's decision to try to steamroll this through Parliament". Earlier this month, two of its activists broke into the RAF Brize Norton base in southern England and sprayed two planes with red paint. Cooper last week said the vandalism was "the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage" committed by the group since it formed in 2020. The government cites previous damage claimed by the group in actions at a Thales defence factory in Glasgow in 2022 and on Israeli defence tech firm Elbit Systems UK last year in Bristol, in the country's southwest. "Such acts do not represent legitimate acts of protest and the level of seriousness of Palestine Action's activity has met the test for proscription under the Terrorism Act 2000," the government said in a statement. Palestine Action says it is a "direct action and civil disobedience protest movement" seeking "to prevent serious violations of international law by Israel". "Spraying red paint on war planes is not terrorism. Causing disruption to the UK-based arms factories used by Israel's largest weapons firm, Elbit Systems, is not terrorism," co-founder Ammori said. "The terrorism and war crimes are being committed in Palestine by Israel, which is being armed by Britain, and benefitting from British military support." Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
The National
30-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
Labour equate Palestine Action to Maniacs Murder Cult in terror order
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has published a draft order which would label both groups as terrorist organisations in the UK, meaning supporting or joining them could lead to up to 14 years in jail. At the same time, Cooper is also aiming to proscribe the Russian Imperial Movement – a far-right group aiming to rebuild the Russian Empire – and its paramilitary wing the Russian Imperial Legion. A Palestine Action spokesperson said: 'Bundling Palestine Action – a domestic civil disobedience protest group – in with foreign neo-Nazi organisations (the Moldovan 'Maniacs Murder Cult' and the Russian 'Imperialist Movement') further highlights how unjustified and preposterous the Home Secretary's proposed proscription of Palestine Action is. READ MORE: BBC responds after live streaming Bob Vylan IDF chant 'These foreign organisations are the kind of groups proscription was created to target – not protesters who disrupt arms factories and spray paint on war planes to protest war crimes and genocide.' Palestine Action has brought a legal challenge against the UK Government's plans to proscribe it, which is due to have a second hearing at the High Court on Friday. It comes as a host of famous names, including Tilda Swinton and Frankie Boyle, joined calls for the Home Secretary not to proscribe Palestine Action. The group claimed that Cooper was concerned that she would not get the support needed to proscribe it. 'The Home Secretary is borrowing tactics from Trump's playbook to circumvent democratic debate and accountability by effectively proscribing Palestine Action via the backdoor without proper parliamentary consideration,' they said. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper'This extraordinarily undemocratic abuse of power also smacks of desperation. Is the Home Secretary so concerned about her ability to withstand scrutiny from MPs about the widespread condemnation of her unprecedented proposal to ban a civil disobedience protest group as terrorists for the first time in British history? 'Does she fear not being able to pass this unless she lumps Palestine Action in with two foreign extremist groups?' Cooper previously said Palestine Action's activity has increased since 2024 and its methods have become 'more aggressive', with its members showing 'willingness to use violence'. She named three attacks at Thales defence factory in Glasgow in 2022, Instro Precision in Kent, and Elbit Systems UK in Bristol in 2024, as causing damage costing millions of pounds. The Home Secretary claimed the ban will allow law enforcement to 'effectively disrupt the escalating actions of this serious group'.
