Aletho News

UK to prosecute over 60 people for backing Palestine Action after mass arrests

The Cradle | August 16, 2025

London’s Metropolitan Police announced on 15 August that over 60 people will face prosecution for “showing support” for the banned Palestine Action network, alongside three already charged under the Terrorism Act.

The police confirmed they had “put arrangements in place that will enable us to investigate and prosecute significant numbers each week if necessary,” following more than 700 arrests since the designation took effect in early July.

Among them were 522 demonstrators detained in London last weekend for carrying placards backing the group, a figure described as the highest ever number of arrests at a single protest in the capital.

Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said the charges represent “the first significant numbers to come out of the recent protests, and many more can be expected in the next few weeks.”

He warned that “people should be clear about the real-life consequences for anyone choosing to support Palestine Action.”

The police said those convicted could face up to six months in prison and additional penalties.

British Interior Minister Yvette Cooper defended the Labour government’s decision, declaring that “UK national security and public safety must always be our top priority,” and insisting that “the assessments are very clear – this is not a non-violent organisation.”

Metropolis Police Commissioner Mark Rowley praised the prosecutions as proof that “our police and CPS teams have worked so speedily together to overcome misguided attempts to overwhelm the justice system.”

Palestine Action is a British pro-Palestinian direct action network, established in July 2020, with the stated aim of ending Israeli apartheid.

The movement is known for its overt and disruptive – yet non-violent – actions in their mission for ending Israeli apartheid and halting UK complicity in the arms trade with Israel.

This includes occupying, vandalizing, and destroying properties linked to Israeli arms trade, such as Elbit Systems factories and RAF Brize Norton military infrastructure.

On 20 June, one activist broke into the Royal Air Force (RAF) Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire.

In response to these direct actions, the group was branded a terrorist organization on 5 July under the Terrorism Act 2000 by the UK government, making membership to the group a criminal offence.

Various groups and individuals described the move as “grotesque,” “chilling,” and an “unprecedented legal overreach.”

UN experts had urged the UK not to go through with the ban, saying, “According to international standards, acts of protest that damage property, but are not intended to kill or injure people, should not be treated as terrorism.”

The experts added that the actions of vandalism committed by some protesters should be “properly investigated as ordinary crimes or other security offences” and stressed that the actions of protesters do not constitute terrorism when properly defined.

August 16, 2025 - Posted by aletho | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Solidarity and Activism | Human rights, Israel, Palestine, UK