Britainupdated 1h ago2 min read
MapUK Supreme Court Hears Palestine Action Ban Appeal as Police Arrest Protesters in London
“the force said it did not meet the criminal threshold and no further action would be taken.”
“The last person arrested was a woman who had held a sign reading: ‘God help us who are not married to the UK’s national security adviser who support Palestine and Palestine action.’”
Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL · Cropped for layout
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UK Supreme Court hears Palestine Action appeal against designation as a terrorist organisation. Dozens of protesters arrested outside the Supreme Court during the two-day hearing.
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Supreme Court hears appeal
The UK Supreme Court began a two-day hearing in London on Wednesday on an appeal challenging the designation of Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organisation, as police arrested demonstrators gathered outside to protest the proscription. Huda Ammori, cofounder of Palestine Action, said ahead of the hearing that she would argue the ban is having a disproportionate effect on freedom of speech and the right to protest.
Ammori said the ban was imposed by the UK government under then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer in July last year, and she argued that the “dangerous and disproportionate proscription” had criminalised legitimate protest as “terrorism” for the “first time in British history”. Tom Southerden of Amnesty International said after Wednesday’s arrests that the hearing showed “the chaos wrought by the Government’s grave misuse of terrorism powers to proscribe Palestine Action,” and he said the sight of arrests for holding placards was “a grim one.”
Arrests, placards, and lawyers
Protesters gathered outside the Supreme Court and held placards quoting Sarah Helm, the journalist and author married to Jonathan Powell, with one sign reading: “God help us Jews who support Palestine and Palestine Action”. The Press Association reported that about 25 protesters were arrested, and the final person detained carried a sign saying: “God help us who are not married to the UK’s national security adviser who support Palestine and Palestine action.”
Raza Husain KC told the court that only three out of 385 actions carried out by Palestine Action over a five-year period were assessed as meeting the definition of terrorism under part of the Terrorism Act. Sir James Eadie KC said the Court of Appeal had rejected Ammori’s attempt to portray Palestine Action as a “non-violent direct action protest group,” and he argued that acts involving serious damage to property could be considered terrorism without violence or intent to endanger life.
What is at stake
The UK government’s ban places Palestine Action in the same legal category as armed groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), and it makes belonging to or supporting Palestine Action punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Amouri’s legal team argued that the ban has created a “chilling effect” on British society, and it said the group has never advocated violence against individuals.
Euronews said the ban has failed to quell support for Palestine Action and that around 4,200 people have been arrested since the British government outlawed Palestine Action in July last year. The hearing’s outcome could determine the fate of thousands arrested for allegedly supporting the group, with Ammori indicating she would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights if she fails in the Supreme Court challenge.