More than 20 arrests at protest in support of Palestine Action after UK ban comes into effect

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated 10:33 AM CDT, July 5, 2025

LONDON (AP) — More than 20 people were arrested Saturday on suspicion of terrorism offenses after protesters gathered in central London in support of Palestine Action.

The protest in Parliament Square came hours after the pro-Palestinian activist group was banned in Britain under anti-terrorism laws.

The group lost a last-minute court battle late Friday seeking to block the British government’s ban, which came into effect at midnight. Activists and their supporters have said the group is non-violent and advocates civil disobedience, and condemned the government decision as authoritarian.

A small group of protesters stood beneath a statue of Mahatma Gandhi and held placards reading, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/uk-palestine-action-ban-protest-arrests-f28c64c0765cdfd136be82b7a815ed6b

[EX500rider]

1. Maybe breaking in to the RAF base & spraying red paint into the engines of $300 million planes was a bad idea?

Who'd guessed?

[AloeVera]

2. Oh yes, property damage is terrorism, but starving and incinerating babies is not.

N/T.

[cabotnn22]

5. Really sucks that Hamas started all this, huh?

I mean, their barbaric pillaging of a kibbutz - including the murders of entire families, children, even dogs...you should see the footage of the glee with which they shot dogs... - has lead to all of this, unfortunately.

As for Palestine Action, a group can protest, but no one (on the right, left, or in between) has the right to destroy something that isn't theirs. And the idiots were so stupid that they damaged Airbus Voyager aircrafts - which are often used for humanitarian and logistic purposes - though I do believe the ones damaged were primarily used for refueling other aircrafts. They didn't even attack combat planes. They should be proscribed as a terrorist group for their idiocy alone.

Anyway....Am Israel Chai.

[Beastly Boy]

3. "Activists and their supporters have said the group is non-violent and advocates civil disobedience"

Except when they vandalize military equipment on an air force base.

...Just how many Gazans did they feed or shelter?

[AloeVera]

4. They'd be shot dead by the IDF or GHF mercenaries...

Not to mention they'd never get close to Gaza. You know all this.

Violence is against a person. Vandalism is a non-violent property crime.

I personally don't think a plane is a person but YMMV.

[cabotnn22]

6. More likely they'd be shot by Hamas

Just ask the aid workers Hamas has kidnapped, tortured and, most likely, killed.

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/israel-middle-east/gaza-aid-workers-killed-taken-hostage-hamas-attack

[Beastly Boy]

7. How do you propose your mutually exclusive speculations could possibly take place?

What kind of pretzel twisting does it take to even suggest IDF soldiers shooting anyone in London?

And I am supposed to know... what? That this is complete nonsense? Ok, I do.

And I am looking forward to you explaining how breaking into a restricted air force base can be accomplished non-violently. Did they all have valid military IDs that granted them access to the base?

[AloeVera]

9. Now you think fences are people too?

Violence against a fence... what terrorists!


As a matter of fact, there ARE IDF soldiers in London... Dual nationals... but you know that's not what I was talking about. How you manage to twist meaning into inanity is a constant source of amazement to me.

[Beastly Boy]

10. Again... What?

Violence is violence. It is not pro- or anti- anything.

Do you really want a more redundant response? Ok, here it is:

violence
behavior

violence, an act of physical force that causes or is intended to cause harm. The damage inflicted by violence may be physical, psychological, or both. Violence may be distinguished from aggression, a more general type of hostile behaviour that may be physical, verbal, or passive in nature.

Violence is a relatively common type of human behaviour that occurs throughout the world. People of any age may be violent, although older adolescents and young adults are most likely to engage in violent behaviour.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/violence

And if I recall your absurd talking point, it had something to do with being shot dead by IDF. Not IDF soldiers being present in London.

Of course I know what you were talking about. I can read.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. And if everyone reads the full Britannica article, it's clear it restricts violence to acts against people

not against inanimate objects.

Types of violence
Violence can be categorized in a number of ways. Violent crimes are typically divided into four main categories, based on the nature of the behaviour: homicide (the killing of one human being by another, sometimes for legally justifiable reasons), assault (physically attacking another person with the intent to cause harm), robbery (forcibly taking something from another person), and rape (forcible sexual intercourse with another person). Other forms of violence overlap with these categories, such as child sexual abuse (engaging in sexual acts with a child) and domestic violence (violent behaviour between relatives, usually spouses).

The UK government are snivelling wankers, who are stretching a bad law way beyond reason. They have made holding that placard in the OP "I support Palestine Action" a crime, despite Palestine Action never having committed any violence or terrorism. Rather than fixing the security at their bases, and disassociating themselves from the arms companies such as Elbit whose property has been the target of Palestine Action vandalism,, they gave into the the lobbying by the arms companies.

In 2003, Keir Starmer was part of the legal team defending a similar case of causing damage on an RAF base.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairford_Five

The sentences were small (a conditional discharge and a £250 fine for costs, or a curfew order). Some were found not guilty by juries because their actions were trying to prevent war crimes. Now Starmer has declared supporting the same vandalism as "terrorism". What a coward and liar he is.

[Beastly Boy]

12. Only if everyone READS the full Britannica article, not READS INTO it.

"Violent crimes are typically divided into four main categories,"

This is explicitly a definition for crimes, not violence in general terms, their typical, not exhaustive categorization into main, not intended to be all-inclusive, groups. But let's keep splitting hairs, because it is fun and an easy way to deflect.

Speaking of deflections, I will not presume to have the standing to comment on the sniveling wankery of your government, so don't even try to take me there. It's for you Brits to sort out, which is something way outside the topic of this thread. So I am not biting.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. "way outside the topic"? The topic is the UK government making support for Palestine Action a criminal offence

Read the OP again. It's about criminal definitions.

You're the one trying to take it off topic with your claim that vandalising military equipment is violent.

If you really think that this is for Brits to sort out, then you shouldn't have joined the thread. Feel free to stop injecting bad takes on it.

The problem with the Terrorism Act of 2000 is that it includes action that "involves serious damage to property" as terrorism if "the use or threat is designed to influence the government". 45% of the UK thinks Israel's actions in Gaza amount to genocide (only 15% support Israel's actions in Gaza), and Palestine Action is using non-violent action to oppose it. But Starmer, rather than thinking about what the country actually wants, has criminalised support for that non-violent action.

[Beastly Boy]

14. It takes an act of violence to vandalise anything. Vandalism, including vandalising military equipment IS violent.

The whole notion of vandalism being non-violent is absurd. That was my direct response to a post (not your post, BTW - you just inserted your opinion into the exchange) that suggested otherwise.

And no matter how many times I read the OP, no mentions of criminal definitions suddenly appear in it. You should try it too, I strongly suspect you will get similar results.

Oh, and did I mention that it was you who inserted your unsolicited opinion about the British government into an exchange that had nothing to do with it? Yes, yes you did. Maybe you shouldn't have done it, but you did. And in response, I suggested that it is none of my business, nor is it related to the thread, no matter how many times one re-reads the OP.

Still, you keep volunteering comments about British law and legislation despite my refusal to get off subject, so I will just ignore them. A rather reasonable thing to do under the circumstances.

[AZProgressive]

8. I think the UK is really stretching the terrorism label

All they did as far as I know was use red spray paint to signify Palestinian blood.

[EX500rider]

15. However they sprayed the paint into the engines

Disabling military planes, that would count as terrorism in many countries.