After a London protest supporting Palestine Action, a campaign organisation that the British government has proposed to ban under anti-terrorism laws, seven people were charged on Tuesday.
The ban, which was announced on Monday and will be laid before parliament next week, would make it a criminal offence to belong to the group after its activists damaged two UK military planes in protest at London’s support for Israel.
Palestine Action, which called the ban “an unhinged reaction”, on Monday was forced to change the location of a planned protest to London’s Trafalgar Square after police banned it from staging a demonstration outside parliament.
Protest Turns Chaotic
The Metropolitan Police said that although the protest began peacefully, there were clashes between officers and people in the crowd, with 13 arrests made. Of those, seven people have been charged.
One was cautioned while the remainder were bailed or released under investigation to allow further enquiries to take place, the police said. Charges include assaulting emergency workers and a racially aggravated offence.
Palestine Action has regularly targeted British sites connected to Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems, as well as other companies in Britain linked to Israel, since the start of the conflict in Gaza in 2023.
In its latest and most high-profile action, two Palestine Action members entered a Royal Air Force base in central England on Friday.
The ban would put Palestine Action on a par with Hamas, al-Qaeda or ISIS under British law. Condemning the ban, Amnesty International UK said that “government embarrassment at security breaches is no excuse for interfering with human rights”.
RAF Base Break-In
Last week, pro-Palestinian activists breached a Royal Air Force (RAF) base in central England, defacing two refuelling and transport aircraft with red paint and causing damage.
Palestine Action said two members had entered the Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire, putting paint into the engines of the Voyager aircraft and further damaging them with crowbars.
“Despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel U.S./Israeli fighter jets,” the group said in a statement, posting a video of the incident on X.
“Britain isn’t just complicit, it’s an active participant in the Gaza genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
