Palestine Action: The 'enemy within' or non-violent protesters?

The impending prohibition connected protestation radical Palestine Action has divided sentiment - described arsenic some "outrageous" and "long overdue".

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is expected to instrumentality the measurement aft the radical broke into RAF Brize Norton successful Oxfordshire connected e-scooters and sprayed 2 Voyager planes with reddish paint.

The premier curate described the onslaught arsenic "outrageous" and a accelerated reappraisal of information astatine MoD bases is nether way.

It was the latest protestation successful a five-year run from Palestine Action (PA) that has targeted arms manufacturers, fiscal institutions, governmental figures and authorities buildings.

Red spray overgarment has go its signature.

On its website, PA says it is simply a "direct enactment movement" committed to ending "global participation" successful what it calls Israel's "genocidal and apartheid regime".

It adds that it uses "disruptive tactics" to people "corporate enablers of the Israeli military-industrial complex".

Banning the radical would marque rank of it illegal. It would beryllium treated arsenic a violent organisation.

Saeed Taji Farouky, a spokesperson for PA, told Sky News that imaginable proscription was "unfair", adding that it was "ludicrous" that a "civil nine nonstop enactment group" could extremity up connected the aforesaid database arsenic ISIS.

He added: "It's not logical, it's not adjacent accordant with the British ineligible explanation of terrorism, it's a absorption that's been taken overnight, with astir nary treatment oregon debate.

"The full happening is incredibly worrying, mostly for what it means astir British instrumentality successful general, astir undermining the precise ground of British ideology and the regularisation of law."

There are "no circumstances" nether which the 2 radical who breached Brize Norton would beryllium handed implicit to the police, helium said.

Singer-songwriter Paloma Faith, who spoke astatine a pro-Palestine rally successful Whitehall successful cardinal London connected Saturday, told Sky News she was "devastated" by the move.

"I person met immoderate of the radical who person friends successful that group. They are young students and they are fundamentally trying to bash thing due to the fact that they consciousness that our authorities is failing them."

She added that "everyone" wants to extremity what she described arsenic a "massacre" successful Gaza.

Israel says its subject run successful Gaza is simply a mode of defending itself against Hamas, which killed much than a 1000 radical successful its 7 October attacks and took astir 240 radical hostage. Hamas-run wellness authorities assertion Israeli attacks person since killed astir 56,000 radical successful Gaza.

Faith continued: "When you scribble connected something, oregon overgarment connected it, it's a non-violent protestation and it shouldn't beryllium made astatine the aforesaid level arsenic a convulsive protestation - it is unjust."

Ben Jamal, manager of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, backed Palestine Action's usage of non-violent protest.

He told Sky News: "There has been a spot for that successful each governmental movements successful history.

"In the conflict for the rights of achromatic radical successful the US, successful the conflict against apartheid successful South Africa, successful the conflict for women to person the vote, radical took forms of non-violent nonstop action.

"Imagine if we had the existent [situation] backmost successful those days - we would person been proscribing the suffragettes, treating them arsenic terrorists."

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Others person welcomed the move. Lord Walney, who served arsenic the government's autarkic advisor connected governmental violence, told Sky News the determination was "long overdue".

"Palestine Action person acted arsenic the force wrong which is wherefore it's right, now, to ace down connected them," helium said.

"They person terrorised moving radical for a fig of years and there's a fig of superior convulsive charges that are going done the tribunal strategy astatine the moment."

The UK authorities is expected to denote its determination aboriginal adjacent week.