The Home Office has welcomed the ban on Palestine Action after the group failed to block its proscription with a late-night legal challenge. The designation as a terror group means that membership of or support for Palestine Action is now a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The group lost a Court of Appeal challenge on Friday evening, which sought to stop it being banned less than two hours before the move came into force at midnight. A Home Office spokesperson said on Saturday: "We welcome the Court's decision and Palestine Action are now a proscribed group."
Government takes strongest action
The spokesperson added: "The Government will always take the strongest possible action to protect our national security and our priority remains maintaining the safety and security of our citizens." The move to ban the organisation was announced after two Voyager aircraft were damaged at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on 20th June.
The incident was claimed by Palestine Action, with police saying it caused around £7 million of damage. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action on 23rd June, stating that the vandalism of the two planes was "disgraceful".
Parliament backs proscription move
Cooper said the group had a "long history of unacceptable criminal damage". MPs in the Commons voted 385 to 26, with a majority of 359, in favour of proscribing the group on Wednesday.
The House of Lords backed the move without a vote on Thursday. A group has said it is set to gather in Parliament Square on Saturday holding signs supporting Palestine Action, according to campaign group Defend Our Juries.
Protesters vow to continue
In a letter to the Home Secretary, protesters said: "We do not wish to go to prison or to be branded with a terrorism conviction. But we refuse to be cowed into silence by your order." Four people have been charged in connection with the incident at Brize Norton.
Amy Gardiner-Gibson, 29, Jony Cink, 24, Daniel Jeronymides-Norie, 36, and Lewis Chiaramello, 22, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday. They were charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the United Kingdom, and conspiracy to commit criminal damage, under the Criminal Law Act 1977.
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
