Palestine Action’s co-founder has won a bid to bring a high court challenge over the group’s ban as a terrorist organisation, which has made membership of or support for the direct action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
About 200 people have been arrested on suspicion of publicly protesting in support for PA since it was banned. They include:
Jon Farley, 67
Farley was picked up by police at a silent demonstration in Leeds for holding a sign that made a joke about the government’s proscription of Palestine Action taken from an issue of the fortnightly satirical magazine Private Eye. He was arrested under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which he described as a “pretty terrifying and upsetting experience”. Farley, who had never been arrested before, told the Guardian: “I clearly wasn’t any kind of physical threat.” The Private Eye editor, Ian Hislop, said the arrest was “mind-boggling”.
Retired teacher
Marianne Sorrell, 80
Sorrell, from Wells, Somerset, was arrested for holding a placard at a pro-Palestine rally in Cardiff, and she was held by police for almost 27 hours, during which officers forced their way into her house and searched it. She said officers removed 19 items from her home, including iPads, a Palestinian flag, books on Palestine, material related to Extinction Rebellion and the climate crisis, as well as drumsticks for – and a belt that holds – her samba drum. “At 80, to be treated like a dangerous terrorist is deeply shocking. I’ve been very traumatised by this. Every morning I wake up feeling sick, nauseous. [I have] had to take anti-sickness pills,” she told the Guardian.
Retired teacher
Trisha Fine, 75
Also from Wells and a friend of Sorrell, Fine was held for the same period of time. The women have been bailed until October. Their bail conditions prohibit contact with each other and spending any nights away from their homes. She said that during her detention officers refused to let her have the antibiotics she was taking for a serious gum infection, and failed to call her husband, who is recovering from cancer treatment, to tell him about her arrest, despite having agreed to do so.
Retired teacher
The Rev Sue Parfitt, 83
Parfitt, from Henbury in Bristol, was arrested on the same day the group was outlawed. She was attending a demonstration in Parliament Square in London. She was sitting in a camp chair surrounded by other protesters, holding a placard stating her support for Palestine Action. As she was led away by police, she called the ban “total nonsense” and said it symbolised a “loss of civil liberties in this country”, according to the BBC.
Retired priest
Deborah Hinton, 81, and Oliver Baines, 74
Hinton and Baines were among eight people arrested by Devon and Cornwall officers at a peaceful demonstration. “She’s a pillar of the community, so it’s a very brave thing for her to have done,” Baines said of Hinton. “Part of why we were protesting is that this mission creep of laws against protests is really frightening people. This is about freedom of speech,” he told Cornwall Live. He added: “We’re not advocating for Palestine Action. We’re resisting the proscription of Palestine Action. We’re resisting the politicised use of terror laws to suppress a non-violent campaign of sabotage. We’re resisting the criminalisation of peaceful protest because it’s already being used to intimidate and threaten people just for having Palestine flags.”
Hinton is a retired magistrate; Baines is a former charity director
