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Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the High Court today in support of direct action group Palestine Action’s attempts to temporarily reverse the Government’s bid to ban them as a terrorist organisation .
Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, asked the High Court to impose an interim suspension on the proscription ahead of a hearing later this month in which Palestine Action will attempt to argue that it was unlawful.
On Wednesday MPs voted overwhelmingly to proscribe Palestine Action, with 385 votes for and just 26 against.
The vote was in response to an action the organisation took which saw members break into an RAF base in Brize Norton, Oxfordshire and spray-paint Voyager planes that they claimed were destined for RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. The RAF has flown hundreds of surveillance missions over Gaza from RAF Akrotiri since 07 October 2023. Police claim the activists caused £7 million worth of damage to the planes.
The court heard that the attempt to proscribe Palestine Action was “absurd” and “an authoritarian abuse of power”.
Raza Husain KC, for Ms Ammori told the court, “This is the first time in our history that a direct action civil disobedience group, which does not advocate for violence, has been sought to be proscribed as terrorists.”
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He said “We ask you, in the first instance, to suspend until July 21 what we say is an ill-considered, discriminatory and authoritarian abuse of statutory power which is alien to the basic tradition of the common law and is contrary to the Human Rights Act.”
The KC added that the Home Office “has still not sufficiently articulated or evidenced a national security reason that proscription should be brought into effect now”.
The majority of protesters outside the court were there in support of Palestine Action, however there was a handful of pro-Israel protesters from the organisation Our Fight UK who held a banner reading “there is no genocide in Gaza”.
One protester, an American called Sam, told Byline Times “I think what the government is trying to do is both absurd and outrageous, and they’re trying to silence the movement in any way that they can, and that is because of the size of the movement.”
He added “they can make it impossible for us to join Palestine action, but they cannot get rid of the idea of Palestine Action or the fact that people are going to take direct action against murderers”.
If the proscription goes ahead, it will make it a crime to be a member of Palestine Action. Proscription would also make expressions of support for the group illegal, meaning demonstrations outside future court cases involving the group would be a crime.
Membership of a proscribed organisation carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Proscribed groups include Islamic State and al Qaeda.
Another protester, who declined to give their name told Byline Times “I don’t think it’s terrorism, because they are not being harmful, they are not being violent. They are just trying to disrupt the war machine that is killing innocent Palestinian babies on a daily basis”.
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He added “obviously they have broken some laws. They’ve done trespassing and stuff like that. That’s as far as it goes, it doesn’t constitute terrorism”.
The protest is just one in a string of demonstrations in support of Palestine Action that have occurred since the announcement that Parliament would vote to proscribe the organisation. Clashes between police and demonstrators occurred at a protest at Trafalgar Square in support of Palestine Action on Monday 24 June, with seven protesters arrested.
Four people have been charged in connection with the vandalism of the planes at Brize Norton and will appear at the Old Bailey on 18 July.
A number of prominent artists and politicians have come out in support of Palestine Action in recent weeks including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, musicians Brian Eno and Massive Attack, the actors Tilda Swinton and Steve Coogan and the author Sally Rooney.
Another hearing has been scheduled for 21 July when Ammori would seek permission for a judicial review to argue that the proscription order should be overturned.
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