PROTESTERS from Cardiff and the surrounding area will be joining a UK-wide wave of actions around the Judicial Review of the government’s proscription of Palestine Action as “a terrorist organisation”. Protests are planned in 18 towns and cities across every nation in the UK from November 18–29, in what the group describes as “the most widespread civil disobedience campaign in modern British history.”
In Cardiff today (November 18) around fifty people will sit quietly from 1pm at the Senedd holding signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
To date over 2,000 people have been arrested under terrorism legislation for taking part in these ‘Lift The Ban’ actions. Around 170 have so far been charged under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000, an offence which carries a maximum six-month prison sentence.
The latest wave of actions also coincides with the Prisoners for Palestine rolling hunger strike, launched on 2 November, with six prisoners so far refusing food in protest against prolonged imprisonment without trial.
The actions come in the wake of mounting legal and political momentum last week against the proscription of Palestine Action, both nationally and internationally. Last week UN experts published a letter sent to the UK government, describing the ban as “not justified”, “unnecessary” and in violation of human rights in a way more common in authoritarian states.
Further damning revelations also emerged, when an independent commission including a former MI6 director, former government ministers and legal experts released a report criticising the process the government used to ban Palestine Action. Meanwhile, reporting in the Guardian showed that ministers were warned the move could backfire by inadvertently raising the group’s public profile and becoming “a flashpoint for significant controversy and criticism” of the government.
This month’s Judicial Review follows a Court of Appeal Ruling on 15 October, in which the Government lost their attempt to block its legal challenge of the ban. At the same hearing Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori won two further grounds for her Judicial Review, which Defend Our Juries said made the Judicial Review now “twice as likely to succeed” – with four grounds on which to appeal, rather than two.
The action in Cardiff will pose a dilemma for the South Wales Police.
Local police forces are operationally independent of central government and so must make their own choice about how to react to the Lift The Ban protests.
South Wales police took an alarmingly extreme approach to activists in Cardiff back in July, arresting sign-holding sitters originally under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (maximum penalty of 14 years in prison) and holding them in custody while raiding their houses. The same protesters were subsequently charged with lesser section 13 offences (maximum penalty of six months in prison). Campaigners are urging the Welsh police to demonstrate restraint and proportionality in policing the upcoming actions.
Several police forces have chosen not to arrest Lift The Ban sign-holders, respecting their fundamental right to protest and to freedom of expression.
Sign-holders in Derry, Edinburgh, Totnes, Norwich and Kendal have not been arrested at Lift The Ban protests despite informing the police in advance of their plans.
Campaigners are calling on the South Wales Police to respond to the peaceful protests proportionately.
Sue Weaver, 78, a retired psychotherapist from Talley who will be taking a second time in Cardiff today said: “Gaza is still being starved of food, medical supplies and even tents. Most homes have been deliberately destroyed.
“We will be sitting in protest at the genocide in Gaza and the UK government that supports it through arms, intelligence and political and military assistance.
“We are also demonstrating against the proscription of Palestine Action, demanding that the UK government stop persecuting those taking non-violent direct action to protect the Palestinian people from genocide.
“Police, please wake up to our government’s complicity with Israel’s genocidal acts in Gaza. International law is being ignored. Those who sit in quiet meditation are not the terrorists here.”
A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries who are organising the Lift The Ban protests said: “The chorus of condemnation against the ban continues to grow as does the number of principled people standing up against the government’s authoritarian overreach.
“These historic mobilisations will honour those already imprisoned for risking everything to disrupt the flow of arms to Israel. The Filton 24 and Brize Norton 5 must be granted immediate bail and full access to the evidence they need to defend themselves.
“These actions will also, once again, be in solidarity with the people of Gaza and the West Bank. Both Conservative and Labour governments have been shamefully complicit in the horrors continuing to unfold in Palestine and the use of counter-terrorism legislation to silence their critics must end now.”
