Police in the UK have arrested greater than 100 individuals at protests throughout the nation calling for a ban on marketing campaign group Palestine Motion to be reversed.
Demonstrations came about on Saturday in Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol, Truro and London as a part of a marketing campaign coordinated by Defend Our Juries, which has already seen dozens arrested.
London’s Metropolitan police stated 55 individuals have been arrested Saturday in Parliament Sq. for displaying placards in assist of Palestine Motion. An additional eight arrests have been made in a separate march in central London in assist of the group.
The Met police stated 70 individuals have been arrested at comparable demonstrations in Parliament Sq. over the previous two weekends.
Higher Manchester Police stated it arrested 18 individuals on suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation.
Avon and Somerset Police stated 17 individuals have been arrested underneath the Terrorism Act at an illustration on School Inexperienced in Bristol. Devon and Cornwall Police arrested eight individuals protesting in Truro, Cornwall.
“Only a few weeks in the past, being arrested underneath the Terrorism Act was the stuff of nightmares,” stated a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries.
“Now it’s a badge of honour that persons are sporting with delight – the mark of resistance to genocide and standing agency for our democratic freedoms.”
Cops take away an individual after they took half in a protest in Parliament Sq., London, to name for de-proscription of Palestine Motion (James Manning/PA by way of AP)
On the time of reporting, a complete of 106 individuals had been detained on Saturday. Police warned earlier than the protests that these displaying assist for the proscribed activist group confronted arrest.
The protests come forward of a Excessive Courtroom listening to on Monday by which the cofounder of Palestine Motion, Huda Ammori, will ask for the inexperienced gentle to problem the house secretary’s determination to ban the group underneath “anti-terror” legal guidelines.
The ban implies that membership of, or assist for, the direct motion group is now a legal offence punishable by as much as 14 years in jail, underneath the Terrorism Act 2000, placing the group on a par with armed teams equivalent to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).
Authorities have beefed up police presence in Westminster within the wake of the rallies.
The professional-Israeli Cease the Hate group additionally deliberate a counter protest in London on Saturday.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan stated these expressing assist for Palestine Motion “will probably be committing an offence and can very probably be arrested”.
5 individuals appeared in courtroom on Saturday over a Palestine Motion protest at an Israeli-linked defence agency’s website.
Members of the organisation, allegedly armed with sledgehammers and whips, are accused of breaking into the Elbit Techniques website close to Patchway, Bristol, within the early hours of August 6, 2024, “counter-terrorism” police stated.
Greater than 2 million kilos of injury ($2.68m) was brought about, and cops and a safety guard have been assaulted, the Westminster Magistrates’ Courtroom heard.
Prosecutors declare the alleged offences had a “terrorist connection”. The 5 concerned have been charged with aggravated housebreaking, legal harm and violent dysfunction.
Palestine Motion describes itself as “a pro-Palestinian organisation that disrupts the arms business in the UK with direct motion”.
Since its founding in July 2020, it has carried out tons of of protests throughout the UK geared toward disrupting the operations of corporations it accuses of taking advantage of Israeli army assaults, with a selected concentrate on the Israeli arms producer Elbit Techniques.
The group’s ways sometimes contain breaking into amenities, chaining themselves to equipment, daubing buildings with pink paint and destroying tools.
The UK has seen tons of of hundreds of individuals peacefully protest on a near-weekly foundation, calling for an finish to Israel’s genocidal conflict in Gaza within the final 22 months.
