Key points
- 300 UK Jewish figures urge UK PM to lift ban on Palestine Action
- Palestine Action is a British pro-Palestinian direct action network
- It was founded in 2020 with the goal of ending “Israeli apartheid”
ISLAMABAD: UK Police warned on Monday of mass arrests if the Palestine Action’s weekend protest goes ahead.
Palestine Action is a British pro-Palestinian direct action network. Founded in 2020 with the stated goal of ending what they describe as Israeli apartheid, the organisation also became active in the Gaza war protests in the United Kingdom, in the wake of the ongoing Gaza war, according to the group’s website.
They are protesting against UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to ban the organisation last month.
Terrorism laws
According to The Guardian, the Metropolitan police made clear it would arrest anyone breaking terrorism laws, as Downing Street urged people not to attend any protest.
In a further challenge to the decision to proscribe Palestine Action, 300 left-leaning Jewish figures including the director Mike Leigh and author Michael Rosen will tell the prime minister in a letter on Tuesday that the ban was “illegitimate and unethical”.
Solidarity
Campaigners from the pressure group Defend Our Juries plan to descend upon Westminster in central London on Saturday carrying placards and posters expressing support for the group, where they are expected to be joined by 1,000 others.
The founder of a pro-Palestinian activist group won the right to challenge the British government’s decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws last week, according to the BBC.
London High Court Judge Martin Chamberlain granted Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori permission to seek a judicial review, saying that it was “reasonably arguable,” that the ban had disproportionately interfered with the group’s right to freedom of expression, assembly and association under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
