The British government’s decision to ban direct action group Palestine Action has triggered widespread anger and defiance. The group has been declared a terrorist organisation and any support for them made illegal.
Palestine Action’s main target since their inception in 2020 has been Elbit Systems: an Israeli weapons company.
The government’s decision was made following Palestine Action’s break in at the RAF Brize Norton base where they sprayed red paint on two planes. They targeted this base because of its daily flights to the RAF base in Cyprus, the launch pad for British surveillance flights over Gaza. The British government has been providing aerial assistance and intelligence to Israel in their ongoing occupation of Palestine and genocide of Palestinians.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper claimed that Palestine Action had caused “millions of pounds” worth of damage since 2020 and that this warranted banning the group. They have not harmed a single person.
Notably, in May 2024 a court in Leicester acquitted two Palestine Action activists accused of damage to an Elbit Systems factory in 2021. Co-founder Huda Ammori stated, “This action and legal victory shows it’s not just a moral obligation to dismantle Israel’s weapons trade, but also a legal one.”
The move against Palestine Action follows a wider crackdown from the Labour government on the right to protest, giving the police more power to break up demonstrations.
This is part of its effort to silence opposition to the UK’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, having approved over a $1 billion worth of arms exports contracts to the IDF since 2015.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Parliament Square on 9 August to protest the ban. It was a peaceful protest where individuals sat on the grass holding signs that said “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”. Metropolitan police made 522 arrests including many elderly people and one blind man in a wheelchair. However the police were unable to arrest everyone who took part.
The widespread opposition to the ban amongst the public and the mass arrests have emboldened sympathy for protesters and for Palestine. Another action is planned for 6 September in Parliament Square with numbers expected to increase dramatically. This kind of defiance can make the law unenforceable and defeat the government’s attack on the right to protest. A judicial review of the ban is scheduled before the end of the year.
By Lorna MacRitchie
