29 arrested protesting in support of Palestine Action in UK
London’s Metropolitan Police says that it arrested 29 people under anti-terror legislation at a protest in support of the newly banned group Palestine Action earlier today.
Supporters of the group, whose proscription under terrorism legislation came into force today, had gathered in Parliament Square in central London. Many held placards that said: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
Police then began arresting the group. Supporting Palestine Action, which describes itself as a non-violent direct action group, is now a criminal offence in the UK, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
One protester, Leslie Tate, a 76-year-old town councillor from Hertfordshire, told PA Media, “Palestine Action are not a violent organisation, and the proscription is wrong.” “This protest is necessary to defend our democracy, and this is the creeping edge of totalitarianism, frankly,” Tate said.
UK ban on Palestine Action a bid to suppress public discontent, says doctor
Dr James Smith, an emergency physician who has lobbied the British government to change its stance on Gaza, says its ban on direct action group Palestine Action sends a troubling message about the status of democratic freedoms in the UK.
“What we’ve seen with the proscription of Palestine Action is the latest in a long lineage of state repression in the United Kingdom, wherein laws are introduced to give the police and the state ever greater powers to suppress popular discontent,” Smith, who is also a lecturer in humanitarian policy at University College London, told Al Jazeera.
He said the support for Palestine Action reflected widespread dissatisfaction with the UK government’s stance on Gaza, which was out of step with the values and principles held by a large proportion of the public.
“What we see here is that the imperial core is revealing itself,” he said. “This notion of British values and so forth, we can see through it very clearly.” He added that the British state had “long been implicated in injustice and violence against the Palestinian people”.
“This is really the latest mark in that really sordid history,” he said.
German police violently arrest pro-Palestine protesters in Berlin
Footage verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking Sanad Agency shows police in Berlin violently cracking down on pro-Palestine protests.
The participants in the demonstration raised the Palestinian flag and wore keffiyehs, demanding an end to Israeli massacres against the people of Gaza.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLuynSCtkdU
Stockholm protesters demand end to ‘genocide’ against Gaza
Hundreds demonstrated earlier today in Sweden’s Stockholm to support Palestinians and condemn ongoing Israeli massacres in Gaza.
Footage verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency showed the demonstrators raising the Palestinian flag and banners that read “Stop the genocide now”.
Participants carried a symbolic small doll representing the thousands of children who have been killed by Israel, and another symbolic scene depicting Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, condemning his silence about the war.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLvE7kEI-I2
