UK police arrest four after pro-Palestinian protest at military base

The arrests travel aft the UK authorities said it would proscribe Palestine Action nether anti-terror laws.

UK constabulary person arrested 4 radical successful transportation with a pro-Palestinian protestation past week, successful which subject planes were vandalised astatine an airbase successful England successful an enactment claimed by the Palestine Action group.

Two activists from Palestine Action broke into the Royal Air Force base successful Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, connected June 20, damaging and spraying reddish overgarment implicit 2 planes utilized for refuelling and transport.

A woman, 29, and 2 men aged 36 and 24, were arrested connected Friday connected suspicion of the commission, mentation oregon instigation of acts of “terrorism”, portion different woman, 41, was arrested connected suspicion of assisting an offender, according to a connection by Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE).

The 4 arrests were made successful London and Berkshire, successful southeastern England, it said.

Palestine Action condemned the arrests, accusing the authorities of being “in the pouch of the weapons companies arming Israel’s warfare crimes”.

It accused authorities of “cracking down connected non-violent protests which disrupt the travel of arms to Israel during its genocide successful Palestine”.

The radical posted footage online past Friday showing radical wrong the base, with 1 idiosyncratic appearing to thrust an electrical scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker, earlier spraying overgarment into its pitchy engine.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the enactment arsenic “disgraceful”.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper made the determination to proscribe Palestine Action pursuing the incident, with the arrests coming conscionable 1 week earlier the prohibition is acceptable to travel into force. If parliament approves the proscription, enactment for the radical would go a transgression offence punishable by up to 14 years successful prison.

Cooper has said its methods person go “more aggressive”, with its members showing a “willingness to usage violence” and that “such incidents bash not correspond morganatic oregon peaceful protest”.

“Proscribing Palestine Action is simply a governmental motion to fulfill pro-Israel groups and arms companies who person been lobbying for america to beryllium banned due to the fact that we’re hitting their profits and having a existent interaction connected Israel’s warfare machine,” said 1 of its spokespeople connected X. The radical besides said the determination was an onslaught connected escaped code and an “unhinged reaction”.

The authorities besides said past week that it was reviewing information crossed each British defence sites pursuing the incident.

Palestine Action has staged different demonstrations, including spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with reddish overgarment and vandalising US President Donald Trump’s Turnberry play people successful South Ayrshire, confederate Scotland.