Amnesty International has warned the Met police against arresting participants protesting this Saturday in London in support of Palestine Action, as the first people were charged for showing support for the banned group.
Two women and a man who were arrested in Westminster after a protest in central London on 5 July will appear in court on 16 September.
Jeremy Shippam, 71, of West Sussex, Judit Murray, also 71, of Surrey, and Fiona Maclean, 53, of Hackney, north-east London, were charged with showing support for a proscribed organisation under section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
A total of 10 people have been charged across the UK for suspected offences under the Terrorism Act since the proscription of Palestine Action, counter-terrorism police said on Thursday.
Since the ban, a total of 221 people have been arrested by police across Britain, including one person who was arrested under section 11, membership of a proscribed organisation.
A total of 58 have been arrested under section 12 (inviting support for, recklessly expressing support for, or arranging a meeting in support of a proscribed organisation) and 162 arrested under section 13 (wearing clothing or carrying articles in public which arouse reasonable suspicion that an individual is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation or publishing an image of an article such as a flag or logo).
A protest in support of the group is planned for Saturday afternoon in Parliament Square, central London. Organisers expect more than 500 people to attend.
Those taking part have been asked by the organisers, the pressure group Defend Our Juries, to hold signs saying: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
Defend Our Juries said on Thursday that an open meeting it had scheduled on Zoom had been taken down after the company received a request from the Metropolitan police.
The group said it had received an email from Zoom that said it was granting a request from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit to restrict users accessing the meeting.
Commander Dominic Murphy, the head of the Met’s counter-terrorism unit, said the force would be sending case files to the CPS for the other 26 people arrested on 5 July.
“I would strongly advise anyone planning to come to London this weekend to show support for Palestine Action to think about the potential criminal consequences of their actions,” he added.
In a letter to Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, Amnesty International UK called for “restraint” to be exercised when policing people holding placards expressing support for Palestine Action
The letter, signed by Amnesty UK’s chief executive, Sacha Deshmukh, said the arrest of otherwise peaceful protesters solely for expressing a statement such as I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action was a violation of the UK’s international obligations to protect the rights of freedom of expression and assembly.
“As such, we urge you to instruct your officers to comply with the UK’s international obligations and act with restraint in their response to any such protests that occur, by not arresting protesters who are merely carrying placards that state they oppose genocide and support Palestine Action,” the letter said.
The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, proscribed Palestine Action last month after activists caused an estimated £7m of damage to jets at the RAF Brize Norton military base in Oxfordshire.
Cooper said on Wednesday night that the decision to proscribe was based on strong security advice and the unanimous recommendation by the expert cross-government proscription review group.
“It also follows disturbing information referencing planning for further attacks, the details of which cannot yet be publicly reported due to ongoing legal proceedings,” she added.
“Those who seek to support this group may yet not know the true nature of the organisation. But people should be under no illusion – this is not a peaceful or non-violent protest group.”
The proscription decision was not about Palestine, she added, and did not affect the freedom to protest about Palestinian rights.
“It only applies to the specific and narrow organisation, Palestine Action, whose activities do not reflect or represent the thousands of people across the country who continue to exercise their fundamental rights to protest on different issues.”
