MPs vote to proscribe Palestine Action as terrorist organisation

MPs person voted to proscribe Palestine Action arsenic a violent organisation aft the radical targeted an RAF basal and an Israeli defence company's UK headquarters.

The authorities passed with 385 MPs voting to proscribe the group, portion 26 voted against the move.

The amendment to the Terrorism Act 2000 to see Palestine Action and 2 achromatic supremacist groups, Maniacs Murder Cult and Russia Imperial Movement, volition spell to the House of Lords connected Thursday and go instrumentality astatine midnight connected 9 July if it passes done successfully.

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It means it volition go a transgression offence - punishable by up to 14 years successful situation - to beryllium a subordinate of the 3 groups oregon to enactment them, if immoderate ineligible challenges by the groups beryllium to beryllium unsuccessful.

Security curate Dan Jarvis told MPs protesters expressing enactment for Palestine "have ever been capable to, and tin proceed to bash so".

He said: "Palestine Action is not a morganatic protestation group.

"People engaged successful lawful protestation don't request weapons. People engaged successful lawful protestation bash not propulsion fume bombs and occurrence pyrotechnics astir guiltless members of the public.

"And radical engaged successful lawful protestation bash not origin millions of pounds of harm to nationalist information infrastructure, including submarines and defence instrumentality for NATO."

However, respective Labour MPs made impassioned speeches astir wherefore they deliberation Palestine Action should not beryllium a violent organisation, and raised concerns it was grouped successful with the different two.

They argued that proscribing the radical "threatens basal freedoms and sets a unsafe precedent for governmental dissent".

Independent MP Zarah Sultana, a erstwhile Labour MP, said: "To equate a spray tin of overgarment with a termination weaponry isn't conscionable absurd, it is grotesque.

"It is simply a deliberate distortion of the instrumentality to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity and suppress the truth."

Read more:
Two much radical arrested implicit harm to RAF aircraft
What does being proscribed mean?

Palestine Action is seeking a ineligible situation against the government's bid to proscribe it, with a proceeding expected connected Friday to determine whether its proscription tin beryllium temporarily blocked, pending further proceedings to determine whether a ineligible situation tin beryllium brought.

Members of Palestine Action are accused of entering RAF Brize Norton successful Oxfordshire connected 20 June and vandalising 2 craft with reddish paint.

Five radical person been arrested implicit the incidental connected suspicion of a panic offence.

A information reappraisal was launched crossed the "whole defence estate" pursuing the breach.