On March 31 1990, Londoners gathered in Trafalgar Square to protest Margaret Thatcher’s poll tax. Windows were smashed and premises were set alight. 339 people were arrested.
That is thought to be the record number arrested at a single protest in the UK – until last Saturday.
The demonstration at the weekend was a very different affair. While six people were arrested for allegedly assaulting police officers, the overwhelming majority – 522 – were arrested for holding up placards reading ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action’.
As of last month, Palestine Action (PA) is officially considered a terrorist group by the British government.
The direct action network, which targets businesses and factories in a bid to draw attention to Israel’s actions in Palestine, was proscribed by Parliament on the same day as the Russian Imperial Movement and the Maniacs Murder Cult.
Speaking to the media today, a government spokesperson suggested some of those arrested on Saturday might not be aware of how the organisation they were supporting operates in real life.
Asked if Keir Starmer thinks the demonstrators – average age 54 – are terrorists or supporters of a terrorist group, the spokesperson said: ‘We’ve said that many people may not yet know the reality of this organisation.’
He added that the assessments made by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre were ‘very clear’, and PA is a ‘violent organisation’ that has committed ‘violent, significant injuries and extensive criminal damage’.
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If the government believes people attended Saturday’s protest without understanding who they were supporting, that means one of two things.
Either they don’t realise the extent of the crimes committed by PA, or they know about the crimes but don’t believe they should be considered terrorism.
If it’s the first, ministers might need to work on publicising what exactly the group has done – and maybe even figure out a way to make public some of the details Home Office Minister Alex Davies-Jones said the government ‘cannot disclose because of national security’ in an LBC interview today.
If it’s the second, ministers might need to clearly explain to the public why PA’s acts have passed the legal threshold for terrorism.
Dr Jessie Blackbourn, an expert in counter-terrorism law at Durham University, said this appeared to be the first time a group has been proscribed largely based on criminal damage rather than ‘serious violence against people’ such as murder or torture.
One example of ‘terrorism’ defined under the Terrorism Act 2000 is ‘serious damage to property’ – a controversial clause in the legislation that has rarely been used until now.
Dr Blackbourn told Metro: ‘Obviously, the Home Secretary is convinced that she’s applied the definition of terrorism correctly in proscribing this organisation.
‘But I think if you ask someone on the street what terrorism looks like, they would be more likely to think of it as being something like the IRA or al Qaeda or Islamic State than Palestine Action.’
When announcing the proscription, the Home Office pointed to three ‘attacks’ carried out by PA: one in 2022 at the Thales defence factory in Glasgow, and two last year at Instro Precision in Kent and Elbit Systems UK in Bristol.
The incident at Thales ’caused over £1 million worth of damage to parts essential for submarines’, the department said, adding: ‘Staff fled for safety as pyrotechnics and smoke bombs were thrown in evacuation areas.’
A few days before the announcement, two activists from the group also broke into RAF Brize Norton and damaged a pair of aircraft with red paint.
Outlining the reasons for proscription to the House of Commons the following day, Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: ‘Palestine Action’s attacks are not victimless crimes.
‘Employees have experienced physical violence, intimidation and harassment, and they have been prevented from entering their place of work.
‘We would not tolerate this activity from organisations motivated by Islamist or extreme right-wing ideology, and we cannot tolerate it from Palestine Action.’
Following Saturday’s protest, Amnesty International UK chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said: ‘We have long criticised UK terrorism law for being excessively broad and vaguely worded and a threat to freedom of expression.
‘These arrests demonstrate that our concerns were justified.’
On July 30, the High Court ruled the proscription of Palestine Action could be reviewed after lawyers for the group’s co-founder Huda Ammori argued the move gagged legitimate protest.
However, Judge Mr Justice Chamberlain also refused a request to pause the ban temporarily until the outcome of the challenge.
That raises the possibility of further demonstrations and even more arrests – unless the government is able to explain why the protesters shouldn’t bother.
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