‘Palestine Action’ marchers - arrests today.

I suspect that

A) many of the protesters under
discussion do NOT know the law well enough to avoid criminal charges.

B) PA is in pursuit of a free publicity platform in UK courts, so wants as many criminally charged as possible.. Regardless of the potential consequences for any "useful idiots" found guilty.

www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/advice_information/pcsc-policing-act-protest-rights/#page-section-22

"The Policing Act changes the level of knowledge needed for an offence to be committed. You’re now guilty of an offence if you fail to comply with any conditions imposed on the protest,"

I think most of those arrested have been freed but I would think with a warning about next time they will be charged.

Oreo

Caleo

I would be scared about my personal safety if I were to speak my mind where police are around. I can hardly believe that Britain is now a country where freedom of speech is against the law.

With free speech comes responsibility and in any case free speech doesn’t mean you can shout anything or wave a placard saying anything at all, surely you know this?

Free speech is not against the law, Caleo. That's a tad dramatic!

You can march, you can protest, you can go to Speaker's Corner and stand there all day shouting the odds about something that annoys you.

What you cannot do is parade the streets openly supporting a proscribed group. There is a long list on a Government website if people are unaware of which groups are proscribed.

There are other protest groups to join - supporting this group seems naïve.

Caleo

I would be scared about my personal safety if I were to speak my mind where police are around. I can hardly believe that Britain is now a country where freedom of speech is against the law.

You must surely be aware that in UK there are laws controlling "hate crime"

"The offence of incitement to hatred occurs when someone acts in a way that is threatening and intended to stir up hatred. That could be in words, pictures, videos, music, and includes information posted on websites.

Hate content may include:

messages calling for violence against a specific person or group
web pages that show pictures, videos or descriptions of violence against anyone due to their perceived differences
chat forums where people ask other people to commit hate crimes against a specific person or group".

Oh are those who shout the loudest about 'hate speech' suddenly finding their own speech is hateful.
This may have been my favourite ever thread.

😁

Oreo

butterandjam

Caleo

Anniebach wrote:
"Palestine Action have used protest, occupation of premises, destruction of property, and vandalism, which sometimes resulted in its members being arrested. Palestine Action describes its actions as "non-violent yet disruptive", saying it has never hurt a human being."

How do you compare the above bad behaviour with bad behaviour that with malice aforethought kills a journalist(Guardian today), starves innocent civilians, bombs hospitals and kills medics, and threatens to deport an entire population to a concentration camp?

Here's the definition of terrorism in UK law, according to the Terrorism Act 2000

www.cps.gov.uk/crime-info/terrorism

They have hurt several human beings, with a sledgehammer.

That would be bad news that they had done that - but still begs the question as to why a whole group would be penalised for what a few hotheads in it had done. There's always always hotheads - in any darn group going pretty much - but the whole group isn't punished because of a few people in it.

Protest marches are not against the law.
Direct action which involves criminality is against the law.
Free speech is not against the law but openly supporting a proscribed group is.

I'm not sure just what part of this is difficult to understand.

Why was the group proscribed? We need to know - so that we can judge whether that matches with our collective decision as a nation.

"Because I say so" is a statement that only got used by 1950s parents. One tells adults ones reasoning and gets majority agreement. They havent told us their reasoning - therefore how can we play our part of either agreeing or disagreeing?

It’s nonsensical to compare the actions of the Israeli govt with ‘peaceful protest’ supporting a proscribed organisation. We have freedom of speech. Our govt is not bombing Gaza or shooting people waiting for aid. Protest against that, no one will stop you. Support a proscribed organisation you will rightly be arrested

CariadAgain

Why was the group proscribed? We need to know - so that we can judge whether that matches with our collective decision as a nation.

"Because I say so" is a statement that only got used by 1950s parents. One tells adults ones reasoning and gets majority agreement. They havent told us their reasoning - therefore how can we play our part of either agreeing or disagreeing?

Google is your friend.

However, Secret Services and the Government may be privy to more information than Joe or Jo Public.

The group appear to have been proscribed because of intense Israeli lobbying to do so. If this is true then it is totally unacceptable and against the law that any foreign country has the power to make another country’s government proscribe a group of what seem to me activists protesting against Elbit, an Israeli manufacturer of powerful heavy weapons who are based in the UK.

And so what if you disagree with their reasoning? I have disagreed with the reasoning of various governments on all sorts of subjects. My democratic right with regard to those disagreements is at the ballot box.

silverlining48

The group appear to have been proscribed because of intense Israeli lobbying to do so. If this is true then it is totally unacceptable and against the law that any foreign country has the power to make another country’s government proscribe a group of what seem to me activists protesting against Elbit, an Israeli manufacturer of powerful heavy weapons who are based in the UK.

Yes one of the lawyers was Natasha Hasdorff. She is constantly getting slaughtered by interviewers.

grandMattie
I SO agree, FGT
There was an interesting article in the paper yesterday about the disinformation Hamas is spreading, swallowed whole by the general population. Goebels would beproud!

Would that be on the level that the Israeli Government are spreading misinformation and lies? More specifically blocking the journalists from the BBC even reporting the truth of what is going on? They won’t even let them in to report! Nobody has forgotten the lies told by the Israeli Government about the killing of 15 emergency workers on 23 March. They lied about them not having headlights or flashing light on. The IDF claimed they were linked to Hamas and were armed! None of it was true - the live footage of the attack actually shows the paramedic saying his last prayers before being killed. It shows clearly the ambulances and fire trucks were showing flashing lights and clearly labelled as emergency vehicles. No links to Hamas, no weapons found. Israeli Government has since admitted they lied - they had to as live footage had been shared with the New York Times - thankfully!
Or maybe the ‘lies’ and ‘misinformation’ is on the level of Israel’s biggest supporter Donald Trump - let’s be honest - he is known across the world as the biggest liar going (as well as being a convicted felon).

Just in case people forget the details of 31 March 2025 (what followed was a cover up to put the murdered medics and aid workers in a mass grave, refusal to cooperate with the aid workers trying to recover their colleagues bodies for burial and even hid their vehicles!

From the BBC

The Red Cross movement has expressed outrage that eight Palestinian medics were killed along with six Civil Defence first responders and a UN staff member by Israeli forces in southern Gaza.
Five ambulances, a fire truck and a UN vehicle were struck "one by one" in the al-Hashashin area on 23 March, according to a UN official. The 15 bodies were recovered from a "mass grave" on Sunday, he said.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said a ninth medic was missing and accused Israel of targeting staff.
Israel's military said troops fired on vehicles "advancing suspiciously" without headlights or emergency signals. It said a Hamas operative and "eight other terrorists" were among those killed.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said in a statement on Sunday that the eight bodies of PRCS medics were retrieved "after seven days of silence and having access denied to the area of Rafah where they were last seen".
The organisation identified those killed as ambulance officers Mostafa Khufaga, Saleh Muamer and Ezzedine Shaath, and first responder volunteers Mohammad Bahloul, Mohammed al-Heila, Ashraf Abu Labda, Raed al-Sharif and Rifatt Radwan.
It added that ambulance officer Assad al-Nassasra was "still missing".
"I am heartbroken. These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to wounded people. They were humanitarians," IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain said.
"They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked.
"Even in the most complex conflict zones, there are rules. These rules of International Humanitarian Law could not be clearer – civilians must be protected; humanitarians must be protected. Health services must be protected."
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a separate statement that it was "appalled" that the medics were killed while carrying out their work.
The head of the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza, Jonathan Whittall, said in a post on X on Sunday that its staff had supported the PRCS and Civil Defence in recovering the 15 bodies of the PRCS medics, Civil Defence first responders and UN staff member from "a mass grave... that was marked with the emergency light from one of their crushed ambulances".
In a video that was posted online on Monday, external, Mr Whittall said: "Seven days ago, Civil Defence and PRCS ambulances arrived at the scene. One by one they were hit, they were struck. Their bodies were gathered and buried in this mass grave. We're digging them out with uniforms, with their gloves on. They were here to save lives. Instead, they ended up in a mass grave."
"Their vehicles... are crushed and dumped, covered in sand next to us. It's an absolute horror what has happened here. This should never happen. Healthcare workers should never be a target."
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), Philippe Lazzarini, said the UN staff member was one of its employees and that the burial of the bodies in "shallow graves" was "a profound violation of human dignity".
The PRCS said it was devastated by the "massacre of our team".
"[Israel's] targeting of Red Crescent medics, despite the protected status of their mission and the Red Crescent emblem can only be considered a war crime punishable under international humanitarian law," a statement added.
At the funeral for the medics on Monday, the father of Ashraf Abu Labda told the BBC: "They [Israeli troops] targeted the first vehicle, then the second and then the third. They killed them in cold blood."
"We've been trying to look for them for eight days. They refused all co-ordination with Red Crescent, OCHA, or the UN. No-one can hold them accountable. Only God," Nasser Abu Labda said.

swallowed whole by the general population

I sincerely don't understand why people are so cruel.

Hamas isn't the Green Party or the Conservatives. You don't get to pop into a little booth and put your cross on a piece of paper.

And as for " Free the Hostages", there are no words.

And as for " Free the Hostages", there are no words.
I agree.

If they'd done that sooner much of this bloodshed might gave been avoided. Netanyahu is vengeful and, if the hostages had all been released, this may well have been over before all these horrors.

Thank You Allira. This upsets me so much.

Of course, with Trump and his dreadful proposals for Gaza, it might not.

I know it's difficult to put aside the suffering of the people of Gaza but I do also look for a moment and wonder how on earth does anyone begin to clear and rebuild?
It's going to take a united effort.

Vengeful or simply NeverAgain ?

Presumably it's embarrassing that our armed forces can't keep their sites secure. Bit of egg on face and made worse by now having arrested hundreds of elderly people peacefully protesting. Where to next?

It is embarrassing, yes, but the Voyager aircraft were used for evacuations and Atlas aircraft used for air drops of vital food and medical supplies into Gaza.

Allira

It is embarrassing, yes, but the Voyager aircraft were used for evacuations and Atlas aircraft used for air drops of vital food and medical supplies into Gaza.

They should have been looked after. I can't believe people can just walk in to a military site carrying cans of paint.