bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Police on Saturday arrested protesters in London for supporting activist group Palestine Action, which on Friday was banned in the United Kingdom under anti-terror laws.
“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,” Metropolitan Police wrote on social media.
Campaign group Defend Our Juries said in a press release that a group of 27 people, including a priest and a number of health professionals, had been arrested for offences under the Terrorism Act.
They were holding cardboard signs, saying: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” added the campaign group.
Police warned on Friday that expressing support for Palestine Action would be a criminal offence after the ban kicked in at midnight.
“This includes chanting, wearing clothing or displaying articles such as flags, signs or logos,” said the force.
A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said, “We commend the Counter Terrorism police for their decisive action in protecting the people of London from some cardboard signs opposing the genocide in Gaza and expressing support for those taking action to prevent it.”

The proscription cleared parliament on Thursday, with a court challenge to try to stop it becoming law failing on Friday.
The government announced last week it would ban Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000, days after activists from the group broke into an air force base in southern England.
Two aircraft at the base were sprayed with red paint, causing an estimated £7 million (US$9.55 million) in damage.
Four Palestine Action activists were remanded in custody on Thursday after appearing in court over the incident.
Palestine Action has condemned the proscription as an attack on free speech.
The ban will make it a criminal offence to belong to or support the group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Earlier on Friday, Huda Ammori, the group’s co-founder, unsuccessfully asked the High Court to temporarily block the UK government from designating the group as a terrorist organisation, before a potential legal challenge against the decision to proscribe it under the Terrorism Act 2000.
UK 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 in favour of proscribing the group on Wednesday, before the House of Lords backed the move without a vote on Thursday.
Four people have all been charged in connection with the incident.
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.
Lawyers for Ammori took her case to the Court of Appeal on Friday evening, and in a decision given at around 10.30pm, refused to grant the temporary block.
Raza Husain King’s Counsel (KC), for Ammori, made a bid to have the case certified as a “point of general public importance” to allow a Supreme Court bid, but the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said they would not get to the Supreme Court before midnight.
The judge added that any application should be made before Monday and refused a bid to pause the ban coming into effect pending any Supreme Court bid.
In an 11-page written judgment, Baroness Carr, Lord Justice Lewis and Lord Justice Edis said: “The role of the court is simply to interpret and apply the law.”
“The merits of the underlying decision to proscribe a particular group is not a matter for the court … Similarly, it is not a matter for this court to express any views on whether or not the allegations or claims made by Palestine Action are right or wrong.”
They also said, “People may only be prosecuted and punished for acts they engaged in after the proscription came into force.”

In his decision refusing the temporary block, High Court judge Justice Chamberlain said, “I have concluded that the harm which would ensue if interim relief is refused but the claim later succeeds is insufficient to outweigh the strong public interest in maintaining the order in force.”
Blinne Ni Ghralaigh KC, for Ammori, told the Court of Appeal that the judge wrongly decided the balance between the interests of her client and the Home Office when deciding whether to make the temporary block.
She said, “The balance of convenience on the evidence before him, in our respectful submission, fell in favour of the claimant having regard to all of the evidence, including the chilling effect on free speech, the fact that people would be criminalised and criminalised as terrorists for engaging in protest that was not violent, for the simple fact that they were associated with Palestine Action.”
She also told the Court of Appeal that Justice Chamberlain “failed properly to consider” that banning the group “would cause irreparable harm.”
Ni Ghralaigh said, “There was significant evidence before him to demonstrate the chilling effect of the order because it was insufficiently clear.”
She continued that the ban would mean “a vast number of individuals who wished to continue protesting would fall foul of the proscription regime due to its lack of clarity.”
Ben Watson KC, for the Home Office, told the Court of Appeal that Justice Chamberlain gave a “detailed and careful judgment” and that the judge was “alive” to the possible impacts of the ban, including the potential “chilling effect” on free speech.


November’s hottest watch moments, from Lady Becks’ Patek Philippe to Dubai Watch Week and GPHG winners

Politicisation of Hong Kong’s fire tragedy in Western media a new low

As Putin visits New Delhi, can India rely on Russia as a ‘time-tested’ defence partner?

Aukus submarine deal to move ‘full steam ahead’ after surviving Trump review

Britain

Supporters of Palestine Action arrested in London following terror ban

Palestine Action activist Lisa Luxx speaks to supporters and members of the media outside the High Court in London on Friday. Photo: AFP

Supporters of the pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action scuffle with police officers outside the High Court in London, Britain, on Friday. Photo: Reuters

People take part in a protest in support of ‘Palestine Action’, organised by the Defend Our Juries group, in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament Square in London, England, on Saturday. Photo: AP

A person holds up a handwritten placard during a demonstration in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London, Britain, on June 23. Photo: EPA-EFE

Glastonbury fallout: UK police probe Bob Vylan’s ‘death to IDF’ chants as US revokes visas

Bob Vylan performing on Saturday. Photo: PA via AP

Bobby Vylan crowd-surfing at Glastonbury. Photo: Getty Images via TNS

Irish rap band Kneecap. Photo: AFP

Revellers watch Kneecap perform. Photo: Reuters

High court rejects Palestinian rights groups’ claim UK illegally arming Israel with F-35 parts

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march during  a national demonstration in London, Britain, on June 21. Photo: EPA-EFE

A Lockheed Martin F-35 fighting jet is pictured at the Berlin Air Show. A Palestinian human rights group lost a High Court challenge over the UK government’s decision to continue exporting parts of fighter jets to Israel. Photo: AFP

Paloma Faith speaks as pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest through central London, calling for the UK government to stop allowing arms exports and military co-operation with Israel on June 21. Photo: Reuters

A person holds a bird-shaped cut-out as pro-Palestinian demonstrators march through London, calling for the UK government to stop allowing arms exports and military co-operation with Israel on June 21. Photo: Reuters

UN records over 600 Gaza killings near aid distribution points, humanitarian convoys

Mourners carry the bodies on Thursday of Palestinians who Gaza’s health ministry say were killed in an Israeli strike on a tent. Photo: Reuters

A Palestinian man carries aid in the southern Gaza Strip on May 28. Photo: Reuters

UK police ban Palestine Action protest outside parliament

Police officers in London stand near protesters on Monday as they rally in support of pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action. Photo: AFP

A person holds up a handwritten placard during a demonstration in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London, on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Director of Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital killed in Israeli strike

Palestinians mourn Dr Marwan Al-Sultan and his family, who were killed in an Israeli strike on Wednesday. Photo: Reuter

The Indonesian Hospital in the north of war-ravaged Gaza. Photo: AFP

News

World

Europe

The ban makes membership of, or support for, the direct action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison


The ban makes membership of, or support for, the direct action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
