Campaigners plan protests across 18 UK towns and cities next month as they challenge the government's ban on Palestine Action. The government banned the direct action group as a terrorist organisation in July, leading to over 2,000 arrests of alleged supporters.
Defend Our Juries will organize demonstrations in cities including Edinburgh, Cardiff, Oxford, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, and London. Organizers expect 1,500 people to participate.
Simultaneously, individuals accused of supporting the banned group will begin rolling hunger strikes starting Sunday.
Dr. Clive Dolphin, spokesperson for Defend Our Juries, said the campaign addresses fundamental rights. "This is about here in the UK, people having the right to protest, the right to speak up to government when they think the government has got something wrong, and fundamentally this is about the fact that the British people oppose genocide [...]," he stated.
Legal Challenges Mount
The wave of arrests following Palestine Action's ban has created what Dolphin describes as "absolute chaos" in the magistrates' court system.
Co-founder Huda Ammori is pursuing legal action challenging the ban under anti-terror laws, with a court hearing scheduled for November.
Palestine Action faced the ban after alleged attacks on Israel-based defense firm Elbit Systems and incidents at RAF Brize Norton, where five members allegedly caused £7 million in damage to military aircraft in June. The ban, implemented by former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, makes membership or support of the group punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
