UK: Divided police response to Palestine Action protests exposes 'chaos' of ban
Activists who staged nationwide protests in solidarity with direct action group Palestine Action over the weekend have said that widely differing police responses “exposed a stark divide” and are “indicative of the chaos” unleashed by the British government's order to proscribe the group.
On Saturday, 86 people were arrested under the Terrorism Act for holding signs reading, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” at protests in cities across the UK, including London, Manchester, Cardiff and Derry.
The government passed legislation banning Palestine Action as a proscribed group on 4 July, making membership of and support for it a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
A bid by the group to apply for interim relief to temporarily block the ban pending a judicial review was rejected by the High Court on Friday.
But according to the campaign group Defend Our Juries (DOJ), the policing response to the protests varied widely across cities, with police in Kendal and Derry making no arrests, while in Cardiff, the South Wales police treated the protest as if “it were a serious terrorist incident”.
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DOJ reported that the South Wales Police conducted 13 arrests under the Terrorism Act Section 12 and held them in custody for an extended period after a superintendent authorised an extension of precharge detention beyond the maximum of 24 hours.
The police also raided the arrestees' homes, breaking down front doors and seizing posters, books and technology. According to DOJ, two of the 13 arrestees were Quakers, aged 78 and 80. They reported that their food cupboards were tested for radioactive material.
The group added that in London and Manchester the “approach was somewhere in between”, with protesters arrested under the Terrorism Act Section 13 - a much lesser charge than Section 12 - and were quickly released on police bail.
“The Chief Constable of South Wales police has got carried away with his new powers, treating peaceful protestors with cardboard signs like al-Qaeda operatives. Is this absurd diversion of police resources what [Home Secretary] Yvette Cooper really intended?” a DOJ spokesperson asked in a statement.
Bringing the law into disrepute
The DOJ said that the "massive variation" in the police response "brings the law into disrepute", and is demonstrative of the "chaos" unleashed by the order to ban the group.
"Express your opinion in Kendal or Derry and the police will leave you be. Do the same thing in Cardiff, the police will react as if your cardboard sign is a grave danger to the public, keeping you locked up while they break down your doors and raid your homes."
While DOJ noted that the signs that protesters held in Derry were worded slightly differently so that they read, “Defend Your Right to Protest” instead of “I Oppose Genocide”, they said this does not explain a different police response, as it is the statement of support for Palestine Action written on the signs that is alleged to violate the Terrorism Act.
"One of the things you hear from the police is, 'We're just enforcing the law,' as if they had no discretion," former government lawyer and DOJ activist Tim Crosland told MEE. "And you've got this whole spectrum of police responses".
"This is just exactly the same thing, the same sign, the same words, the same context," he said.
"The real problem is the law. It's a crazy bit of legislation that encourages and allows people to think of people holding cardboard signs as terrorists and a serious threat to society, and some people are going to take that very literally," Crosland said.
Police Watchdog Netpol has previously told MEE about receiving multiple reports of assault against peaceful activists by the South Wales Police, who they described as being "extremely hostile to Palestine solidarity activism".
Netpol also documented multiple incidents of violence by the South Wales police against Black Lives Matter activists in 2021 following the death of Mohamud Hassan in January of that year, shortly after his release from Cardiff Bay Police Station.
The weekend’s arrests follow similar actions the previous Saturday, when 27 people were arrested in London’s Parliament Square, including an 83-year-old priest, a former government lawyer, an emeritus professor, and health workers.
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