The spray-painting of plane at an RAF base by a pro-Palestinian group wouldn’t present the only authorized justification for banning it, in response to a former justice secretary.
The house secretary, Yvette Cooper, is anticipated to maneuver to proscribe Palestine Motion within the coming days after an incident on Friday at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
Jonathan Reynolds, the commerce secretary, mentioned on Sunday it was the fourth assault by the group on key UK defence belongings and that these interfering over a time frame with defence infrastructure ought to anticipate “a very robust response”.
“I would also say those people do no service to the Palestinian cause, which is a noble one,” Reynolds mentioned in an interview on the BBC.
However reviews of a transfer to proscribe the group, which might in impact label it as a terrorist organisation, has been criticised by MPs, Amnesty Worldwide and the previous Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf.
A Thames Valley police investigation into the incident has been taken over by counter-terrorism police, whereas the Ministry of Defence (MoD) mentioned it was within the means of reviewing safety at its bases. Cooper is making ready a written ministerial assertion that can be positioned earlier than parliament on Monday.
Palestine Motion launched a brief video on Friday morning displaying two folks driving electrical scooters contained in the airbase at evening and spraying two navy planes.
The group mentioned it had focused RAF Voyager plane used for transport and refuelling, and that “activists have interrupted Britain’s direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East”.
The incident is the newest motion lately by the group, however additionally it is a very embarrassing breach of MoD safety at a web site holding planes utilized by the king and prime minister.
The previous justice secretary Charlie Falconer mentioned on Sunday that the “sort of demonstration” on the base wouldn’t justify proscription, “so there must be something else that I don’t know about”.
Requested if the actions had been “commensurate with the need to proscribe an organisation”, Lord Falconer advised Sky Information’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme: “I am not aware of what Palestine Action has done beyond the painting of things on the planes in Brize Norton. They may have done other things I didn’t know.
“I think the question will probably not be what we know about them publicly, but there would need to be something that was known by those who look at these sorts of things that we don’t know about, because they got into the airbase, which might suggest they’ve got some degree of ability to make them dangerous.”
The MP and former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell mentioned on X: “Prosecuting Palestine Action protestors for criminal damage for paint spraying at the airbase would be expected but putting them on a par with mass killers like Jihadis & Boko Haram & proscribing doesn’t seem appropriate & not what the counter-terrorism laws were introduced for.”
Throughout a protest march in London on Saturday, Yousaf accused the UK authorities of “abusing” anti-terror legal guidelines towards Palestine Motion. He later mentioned on X: “If the UK Government believes those protesting against the atrocities in Gaza are terrorists, but those killing children should be supported and provided with weapons, then this Government has not only lost its way, it has lost its conscience.”
Amnesty Worldwide UK mentioned it was “deeply concerned at the use of counter-terrorism powers to target protest groups”.
Palestine Motion and different teams have urged supporters to exhibit exterior parliament at midday on Monday. A spokesperson mentioned it will battle any ban and was “considering all options”.
“This emerged on Friday evening in the form of leaks to the press. We have not been consulted and have received no right of reply,” they added.
The group was based in 2020 by Huda Ammori, whose father is Palestinian, and Richard Barnard, a leftwing activist. The organisation, which focuses its campaigns on multinational arms sellers and company banks, just lately focused a manufacturing unit in Shenstone, Staffordshire, claiming it made drones for the Israeli military.
The house secretary has been the main target of lobbying by teams, together with the Marketing campaign Towards Antisemitism, pushing for Palestine Motion to be banned.
