Labour MP Stella Creasy has warned that arresting protesters for expressing support for Palestine Action is becoming unsustainable. The Walthamstow representative told the Commons that continued arrests risk undermining the meaning of terrorism.
Another 890 demonstrators were arrested in central London on Saturday, bringing the total arrested in similar protests to nearly 1,500 since the group was proscribed. Creasy said arrests of people holding placards supporting the group or action in Palestine was becoming untenable.
Government defends proscription
Home Office minister Dan Jarvis defended the ban, saying Palestine Action members had been charged with violent disorder, grievous bodily harm with intent, actual bodily harm, and criminal damage. He told MPs that weapons had been used in the group's attacks and that Palestine Action had met the threshold for proscription.
Jarvis said: "Supporting a proscribed organisation would never be acceptable, regardless of circumstances."
Creasy acknowledged the case for acting against the group was strong, citing "a pattern of violence at their events" and the group's failure to disassociate from that violence. However, she argued there was a crucial distinction between people protesting using violence and people protesting the use of proscription itself.
Risk of diluting terrorism definition
"This is just not sustainable for our police and our criminal justice system," Creasy said. "If we continue to arrest those in the second category, the seriousness of the term terrorism risks losing its meaning, becoming diluted rather than strengthened."
She warned that targeting people with posters who don't support Palestine Action but feel strongly about Palestinian rights and free speech "confuses rather than clarifies the Government's intentions." Creasy called for government guidance on public interest tests for the Crown Prosecution Service and police.
MPs voted to ban Palestine Action in July following an incident at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire where protesters broke in and vandalised two Voyager aircraft. Police said seven million pounds of damage had been caused, with five people charged in connection with the June incident.
Saturday's arrest details
Saturday's arrests in Parliament Square saw 857 people held for showing support of a proscribed group, while 33 were arrested for assaulting police officers and other public order offences. A separate Palestine Coalition march was attended by 20,000 people.
Jarvis maintained that supporting Palestine and supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation "are not the same thing." He said anyone wishing to demonstrate about Gaza's humanitarian situation had "absolute freedom" to do so within the law.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Conservatives "fully support, unequivocally, the right to peaceful protest" but that violence is "never acceptable." The minister agreed, establishing consensus across the House that violence cannot be used to pursue political agendas.
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
