Police have arrested 474 folks at an indication in London in help of banned group Palestine Motion.
Scores of individuals concurrently unveiled handwritten indicators with the message “I oppose genocide. I help Palestine Motion” on the protest, organised by Defend Our Juries at Westminster’s Parliament Sq..
The federal government proscribed the group in July beneath the Terrorism Act of 2000, making membership of or help for it a prison offence, punishable by as much as 14 years in jail.
The Metropolitan Police mentioned 466 protestors have been arrested for supporting the group, 5 for assaults on law enforcement officials, two for public order offences, and one for a racially aggravated offence.
Residence Secretary Yvette Cooper thanked police for his or her response, whereas charity Amnesty Worldwide described the mass arrests as “deeply regarding”.
Footage from the sq. confirmed officers shifting among the many protesters, who have been primarily seated on the bottom, and chatting with them earlier than main them away.
Protesters whose particulars may very well be confirmed throughout processing have been bailed with circumstances to not attend any additional protest in help of Palestine Motion.
Individuals who refused to present their particulars or whose identities couldn’t be verified have been taken into custody.
Most of the protesters did not need to communicate to media who got here to cowl the protest, however one – who did not give her title – instructed the BBC: “In the event that they ban Palestine Motion, what different group is subsequent? Till we’re simply now not allowed to protest something. That is the other of democracy.”
One other, Claudia Penna-Rojas, 27, mentioned: “I do not assume anybody needs to get arrested, however I am extra involved with what is going on to folks in Palestine proper now, and I refuse to be a bystander.”
Jacob Ecclestone, 86, mentioned: “I imagine in freedom of speech. What this authorities is making an attempt to do is deeply authoritarian. And it is extraordinarily harmful.”
Earlier, the Met Police had mentioned about 500 to 600 folks have been in Parliament Sq. when the protest started, however that “many have been onlookers, media or folks not holding placards in help of Palestine Motion”.
Many of the protesters who unveiled indicators did so whereas sitting in Parliament Sq. subsequent to the Home of Commons [PA Media]
At 13:00, when Large Ben chimed, a whole lot of individuals sat on the sq. pulled out their placards, at which level the police began making a number of arrests at a time, working their manner via the crowds.
Protesters patiently waited their turns. Some selected to stroll out quietly. Those that refused to maneuver, mendacity on the bottom, have been carried out by police to chants of “disgrace on you” directed on the officers.
The protest comes simply days after the primary three folks to be charged with supporting the group in England and Wales have been named.
Yvette Cooper thanked police for his or her work dealing with Palestine rights protests throughout the UK on Saturday, saying there had been a “very small variety of folks whose actions crossed the road into criminality”.
She defended the banning of Palestine Motion, which she mentioned was based mostly on “sturdy safety recommendation following severe assaults the group has dedicated” in addition to “plans and concepts for additional assaults, the small print of which can’t but be publicly reported attributable to ongoing authorized proceedings”.
“Many individuals might not but know the fact of this organisation, however the assessments are very clear – this isn’t a non-violent organisation. UK nationwide safety and public security should all the time be our prime precedence.”
Shadow house secretary Chris Philp mentioned protesters supporting Palestine Motion “ought to really feel the complete power of the regulation”.
The indicators had been ready moments earlier than they have been concurrently unveiled [Reuters]
Chief govt of Amnesty Worldwide, Sacha Deshmukh, mentioned folks outraged by the “ongoing genocide” in Gaza have been “entitled beneath worldwide human rights regulation to precise their horror”.
“The protesters in Parliament Sq. weren’t inciting violence and it’s totally disproportionate to the purpose of absurdity to be treating them as terrorists,” he mentioned.
“We have now lengthy criticised UK terrorism regulation for being excessively broad and vaguely worded and a menace to freedom of expression. These arrests exhibit that our considerations have been justified.”
Organisers Defend Our Juries claimed there have been greater than 1,000 “sign-holders” on the protest – and a big quantity had not been arrested.
Responding, the Met Police mentioned: “That declare merely is not true.”
Defend our Juries mentioned the turnout “exhibits how repulsed and ashamed individuals are about our authorities’s ongoing complicity in a livestreamed genocide”.
It added that “Palestine Motion and folks holding cardboard indicators current no hazard to the general public at massive”.
Police approached protesters sitting on the bottom and both led or carried them away [EPA]
In addition to the protest by Palestine Motion, two marches have been organised by Palestine Coalition and pro-Israeli group Cease the Hate to be held on consecutive days in central London.
The Metropolitan Police mentioned it had drawn officers in from different forces to assist type a “important policing presence” within the capital because it faces a busy weekend.
Earlier than Saturday’s protest, greater than 200 folks had been arrested throughout the nation for related causes because the ban was carried out by the house secretary final month.
On Thursday two girls and a person have been additionally charged with exhibiting help for a proscribed terror group. They’re attributable to seem at Westminster Magistrates’ Courtroom on 16 September, the Metropolitan Police mentioned.
On the finish of July, the Excessive Courtroom dominated that Palestine Motion would have the ability to problem its proscription.
Legal professionals for the group’s co-founder Huda Ammori have argued that the ban breaches the proper to free speech and has acted like a gag on authentic protest. The federal government says the ban is justified as a result of it narrowly targets a gaggle that has been organising severe criminality.
MPs voted to proscribe the group after activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in June, spraying two Voyager plane with pink paint and inflicting £7m price of harm. Palestine Motion took duty for the incident on the time.
A Residence Workplace spokesperson mentioned the choice to proscribe the group was based mostly on “sturdy safety recommendation” following “severe assaults the group had dedicated, involving violence, important accidents and intensive prison harm”.
