London’s Metropolitan Police said it will prosecute 60 people for displaying support for Palestine Action, the pro-Palestinian direct-action group proscribed as a terrorist organisation on 7 July. Three earlier cases have already been filed, and Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson warned that “many more” charges are likely in the coming weeks as investigators process evidence from recent demonstrations. The latest cases bring the total number of arrests since the ban to more than 700. Police detained 522 people at a London protest last weekend—believed to be the largest mass arrest in the capital’s history—and a further 13 in Norwich on Saturday for carrying placards backing the group. Offences for showing support for a banned organisation carry sentences of up to six months, while formal membership can draw prison terms of as much as 14 years under the Terrorism Act 2000. Home Office Minister Yvette Cooper defended the crackdown, saying Palestine Action’s tactics, including a break-in at an air-force base that officials value at £7 million in damage, justify the designation on national-security grounds. Human-rights bodies, among them the UN, Amnesty International, Greenpeace and the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission, have criticised the operation as disproportionate and potentially chilling for lawful protest.
A court has delivered a decision in a legal challenge mounted by police against pro-Palestine protesters, who were organising to cross the iconic Story Bridge. https://t.co/gFqHVbZmji
A judge has banned a planned pro-Palestinian protest from taking place on Brisbane’s Story Bridge, but organisers still plan on staging a demonstration. https://t.co/b4iHA0hHDI
Lawyers have filed a new appeal against the UK’s classification of Hamas as a terrorist organisation, saying that the Palestinian group poses no threat to British security https://t.co/cwrILjoZWm