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Roya News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Roya News
Four pro-Palestine activists to face trial over UK airbase break-in
Four pro-Palestinian activists will stand trial in 2027 after being accused of breaking into a British military airbase and damaging aircraft in protest against the UK's support for 'Israel'. Lewie Chiaramello, 22, Jony Cink, 24, Amy Gardiner-Gibson, 29, and Daniel Jeronymides-Norie, 36, allegedly entered RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on June 20, where they sprayed red paint on two Voyager aircraft used for refueling and transport. Activist group Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the act. At a preliminary hearing held Friday at London's Old Bailey, the four were charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited site with intent to harm national interests and conspiracy to commit criminal damage. They did not enter pleas. Their trial is scheduled to begin in January 2027. According to police, the incident caused an estimated £7 million (USD 9.4 million) in damage to the two aircraft. Earlier this month, UK lawmakers voted to designate Palestine Action as a proscribed organization under anti-terror laws. The group has denounced the move as "authoritarian" and is set to challenge the ban in a High Court hearing on Monday.
The Herald Scotland
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Shawlands man arrested over 'Palestine Action poster in window'
Police were notified he had the poster displayed in the window of his property, it is understood. He will appear in court at a later date. A Police Scotland spokesperson said he was charged in connection with an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000 for displaying the poster at a property in the Shawlands area of the city. The force said the man is due to appear in court a later date and a report is being submitted to the Procurator Fiscal. Protests have been held after the group were proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000 (Image: Lucy North) A Police Scotland spokesperson said: 'On Wednesday, 16 July, 2025, a 38-year-old man was arrested and charged in connection with an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000 for displaying a poster expressing support for a proscribed organisation at a property in the Shawlands area of Glasgow. 'He is due to appear in court at a later date. A report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.' The group was outlawed after claiming responsibility after two Voyager aircraft were sprayed with paint inside RAF Brize Norton in June. The government said the group had a long history of criminal damage, with its activities increasing in frequency and severity. Metropolitan Police officers remove people from a protest in support of Palestine Action in Parliament Square, central London on Saturday July 5, 2025. (Image: Pol Allingham/PA Wire) The arrest follows an incident at the TRNSMT music festival in Glasgow, where a man was charged on Saturday for wearing a T-shirt bearing the message "Genocide in Palestine Time to Take Action." The words "Palestine" and "action" were in larger typeface than the rest of the text. Police Scotland said the 55-year-old had been charged in connection with an offence under the Terrorism Act, for wearing a T-shirt expressing support for a proscribed organisation. T-shirts with the message have been produced by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. In a post on Facebook, the campaign said one of its Glasgow members had been "charged at the roadside" at TRNSMT and the T-shirt had been confiscated. At the time of the ban, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government would "not tolerate" those who put the UK's national security "at risk."
Times
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
Palestine Action is malign, but terror status goes too far
At midnight on Saturday, Palestine Action became officially proscribed under the Terrorism Act. In that ignoble status, it joins al-Qaeda, Hamas and Isis. Voicing support for, or being a member of, Palestine Action is now punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Predictably enough, a number of adherents of the anti-Israeli direct action group do not seem to have been chastened. Following a failed last-minute High Court effort to block the group's proscription, dozens of protestors were arrested over the weekend on suspicion of supporting the organisation. They included an 83-year-old priest, as well as others thought to be 'wearing clothing or displaying articles' indicating membership of a terrorist organisation. That Palestine Action is a malign force is beyond doubt. Its members include sinister ideologues, deeply confused in their geopolitical outlooks and their assessment of the best way to secure their objectives. The group's 'disruptive tactics' involve calculated acts of criminal damage, illegal occupation of premises, and intimidating acts of vandalism. Since its founding in 2020, the group has had a hand in around 500 distinct instances of 'direct action', often targeting firms and property suspected of having links to Israel. The most serious act for which the group claimed credit was when four people were arrested on suspicion of causing £7 million of damage to two military transporter aircraft at RAF Brize Norton. It was this that prompted Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, to judge that the group had 'crossed the threshold established in the Terrorism Act'. • Police defend arrest of 83-year-old Palestine Action activist Yet, however wanton its criminality, it remains a stretch to brand Palestine Action a terror group. Its members are qualitatively different from those of al-Qaeda, and pose a substantially different kind of threat to public order and national security. Their tactics more closely resemble those of extremist environmentalist groups like Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion than those of Islamist terrorists. In recent months, a combination of public ill will, effective prosecution and proportionate sentencing have made it unviable for climate activists to persist with their criminal antics. In March this year, Just Stop Oil announced an end to its practices of criminal vandalism, claiming implausibly to have achieved its objectives. In reality, they were prosecuted into submission by legitimate use of the criminal law. The heavy-handed branding of Palestine Action as terrorists risks seeming absurd when bona fide hostile military groupings like the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps remain unproscribed. The destruction of property that Palestine Action has made its calling card can already be prosecuted. There are legitimate concerns that such measures risk suppressing dissent on the part of those politically opposed to the government's support of Israeli defence policy. Palestine Action's members may be misguided, but Britain must remain a country in which the right to express unpopular and dissenting political views is not subject to outright prohibition. The emergence in recent years of activist groups that make criminal forms of destruction and public nuisance their modus operandi does raise challenges for law enforcement. Lord Walney, the government's former independent adviser on extremism, has recently mooted an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which would give police greater power to curb the illegal antics of extremist groups that fall shy of terrorist organisations. These might include powers to block their ability to fundraise, organise on social media, or live-stream acts of criminality. These lighter-touch measures would be an obviously apt response to the level of threat posed. Palestine Action are an antisocial menace to public order; but politicians should not do them the service of taking them as seriously as they take themselves.
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arrests after protest in support of Palestine Action, police say
More than 20 people have been arrested in London after a protest in support of the banned group Palestine Action, the Metropolitan Police has said. Pictures from the demonstration showed a small group holding placards reading "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action" in Westminster. As of Saturday, the group is proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000, after lawyers acting on its behalf failed with a court bid to block the ban on Friday. The designation means that being a member of, or showing support for Palestine Action, is a criminal offence and could lead to up to 14 years in prison. In an earlier statement, the Met said: "Officers are responding to a protest in support of Palestine Action in Parliament Square. "The group is now proscribed and expressing support for them is a criminal offence." The government moved to ban the group after an estimated £7m of damage was caused to planes at RAF Brize Norton last month during a protest Palestine Action said it was behind. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to proscribe the group last month, calling damage to two military aircraft "disgraceful" and claiming the group had a "long history of unacceptable criminal damage". This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version. You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.
The Independent
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
More than 20 arrests at protest in support of banned Palestine Action
More than 20 people have been arrested on suspicion of terror offences after protesters gathered in central London to show support for the now proscribed group Palestine Action, police said. The Metropolitan Police posted on X on Saturday afternoon saying officers were responding to the demonstration in Parliament Square and making arrests. Palestine Action lost a late-night Court of Appeal challenge on Friday which sought to stop the protest group being banned, less than two hours before the new legislation came into force at midnight. The designation as a terror group means that membership of, or support for, Palestine Action is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. The move to ban the organisation was announced after two Voyager aircraft were damaged at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on June 20, an incident claimed by Palestine Action, which police said caused around £7 million of damage. The force posted on X saying: 'Officers are responding to a protest in support of Palestine Action in Parliament Square. 'The group is now proscribed and expressing support for them is a criminal offence. Arrests are being made. 'Further updates will be shared here.' The Met later posted: 'UPDATE: Officers have arrested more than 20 people on suspicion of offences under the Terrorism Act 2000. 'They have been taken into custody. 'Palestine Action is a proscribed group and officers will act where criminal offences are committed.' A group had earlier said it was set to gather in Parliament Square on Saturday holding signs supporting Palestine Action, according to campaign group Defend Our Juries. In a letter to the Home Secretary, protesters said: 'We do not wish to go to prison or to be branded with a terrorism conviction, but we refuse to be cowed into silence by your order.' Leslie Tate, 76, a Green councillor from Hertfordshire, said: 'Palestine Action are not a violent organisation, and the proscription is wrong. 'You do know, of course, that they were proscribed by Parliament with two other groups involved – all three at once – so that was a trick to make sure the Bill went through. 'The evidence from their actions that they've taken from the start of Palestine Action is that they all have been non-violent. 'This protest is necessary to defend our democracy, and this is the creeping edge of totalitarianism, frankly. 'We thought they (the police) would probably take pictures of people. It's the obvious thing to do, to photograph them, then they have their identity, rather than make arrests.' Metropolitan Police circled around dozens of protesters standing quietly beneath the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, with placards that said: 'I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action'. Occasional chants of 'free Palestine' broke out from the surrounding onlookers, and some criticised the police attending. The protest started at about 1.10pm and officers were seen taking people away shortly after 1.30pm. Reverend Sue Parfitt, 83, who was sat in a camp chair with a placards at her feet, appeared to have been taken away by officers. A woman seen lying on the ground in handcuffs was lifted by officers and put in a police van. While flanked by a large group of police, she said calmly: 'Free Palestine, stop the genocide, I oppose genocide, I support the rights of the Palestinian people, I support freedom of speech, I support freedom of assembly.' Several people crowded around to film the arrest as officers placed the woman in the vehicle parked on the road behind the square, before returning to the Mahatma Gandhi statue, where almost no protesters remained. Chants of 'shame' broke out, directed at the police, most of whom had dispersed by 2.10pm. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action on June 23, stating that the vandalism of the two planes was 'disgraceful' and that the group had a 'long history of unacceptable criminal damage'. MPs in the Commons voted 385 to 26, majority 359, in favour of proscribing the group on Wednesday, before the House of Lords backed the move without a vote on Thursday. Four people – Amy Gardiner-Gibson, 29, Jony Cink, 24, Daniel Jeronymides-Norie, 36, and Lewis Chiaramello, 22 – have all been charged in connection with the incident at RAF Brize Norton. They appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday after being charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the United Kingdom, and conspiracy to commit criminal damage, under the Criminal Law Act 1977.
