Five pro-Palestinian activists have pleaded not guilty to breaking into a British military air base and damaging two planes in protest against the UK's support for Israel's war in Gaza. The five are accused of breaking into the Brize Norton Royal Air Force base in central England in June and spraying red paint over two Voyager aircraft used for refuelling and transport.
The UK's decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation has been likened to authoritarian crackdowns in Russia by a UN expert. The UN special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, Professor Ben Saul, said the UK government's ban on the direct action protest group is an unnecessary and disproportionate restriction on fundamental human rights. In evidence submitted to the High Court, he warned that the move sets a precedent for further crackdown on other protest movements in the UK, such as climate activists.
Today marks the beginning of our legal challenge to one of the most extreme attacks on civil liberties in recent British history a measure condemned across the political spectrum as an affront to our democracy and an unjustifiable drain on counterterror resources that should be focused on actual threats to the public, Ammori said at the beginning of the hearing.
In a highly significant ruling, the Court of Appeal paved the way for the review of the ban before a High Court judge next month. The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, had won permission earlier this year for that judicial review of the Home Secretary's ban. Ministers then tried to stop the hearing from going ahead, arguing that Parliament had set out a specific and alternative process for appealing against banning orders.
More than 400 people were arrested at a pro-Palestine protest in central London today, held in defiance of calls to cancel the demonstration following the terrorist attack on a synagogue in Manchester. Elderly people, relatives of Holocaust survivors, and those with disabilities were among the 493 arrested in Trafalgar Square, as protesters voiced their support for banned terror group Palestine Action.
Appearing at Westminster magistrates court in central London on Tuesday, the three all denied the same charge of displaying an article, namely a placard, in a public place, arousing reasonable suspicion that they are a supporter of a proscribed organisation, contrary to section 13 (1) of the Terrorism Act 2000. The defendants, who appeared before the chief magistrate, Paul Goldspring, were allowed to sit outside the dock as two are hard of hearing and hearing loops could not be found for them.
Palestine Action have been branded as a terrorist organisation', for trying to stop crimes against humanity and for exposing the British government's complicity in genocide. 'Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, introduced the ban after Palestine Action entered the RAF base at Brize Norton and spray painted two military planes red, shining a spotlight on the role of the British military in partnering Israel's genocide against the Palestinian people.
