Palestine Action to be banned

The Home Secretary has said she will move to ban protest group Palestine Action.

Yvette Cooper said a draft proscription order would be laid in parliament on 30 June. If the group were to be proscribed, it would be illegal to be a member or invite support for the group.

Last week, members of the group broke into RAF Brize Norton and sprayed two military planes with red paint. The group said that "By putting the planes out of service, activists have interrupted Britain’s direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East". 

According to Palestine Action, the targeted planes were "Airbus Voyagers, which can carry military cargo and are used to refuel Israeli/US/UK military aircrafts and fighter jets".

The event is being investigated by officers from Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) and the government has launched a security review at military bases across the UK, following the break in.

In a statement Cooper said: “The disgraceful attack on Brize Norton in the early hours of the morning on Friday 20 June is the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action. The UK’s defence enterprise is vital to the nation’s national security and this government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk.”

In response, Palestine Action said: "This is an unhinged reaction to an action spraying paint in protest [at] the UK government arming Israel’s slaughter of the Palestinian people.

“The real crime here is not red paint being sprayed on these warplanes, but the war crimes that have been enabled with those planes because of the UK government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide.”

Ahead of a planned protest in support of the group on Monday, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: “I’m sure many people will be as shocked and frustrated as I am to see a protest taking place tomorrow in support of Palestine Action.

“This is an organised extremist criminal group, whose proscription as terrorists is being actively considered. Members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer and last week claimed responsibility for breaking into an airbase and damaging aircraft. Multiple members of the group are awaiting trial accused of serious offences.

“The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest. Thousands of people attend protests of a different character every week without clashing with the law or with the police. The criminal charges faced by Palestine Action members, in contrast, represent a form of extremism that I believe the overwhelming majority of the public rejects."

13 people were arrested at the event, including six for assaulting a police officer.

Writing on Facebook, Amnesty International said: "We're deeply concerned at the use of counter terrorism powers to target protest groups.

"This is the latest in a succession of measures taken by the UK government to clamp down on protest in the UK.

"Terrorism powers should never have been used to aggravate criminal charges against Palestine Action activists.

"And they certainly shouldn't be used to ban them."