Over 500 people are set to participate in a protest against the UK government’s ban on the direct action group Palestine Action, putting to the test a pledge by the Metropolitan Police to arrest anyone showing support for the proscribed organisation.
Campaign group Defend Our Juries (DOJ) is organising the protest on Saturday in Parliament Square to demand the reversal of the group’s proscription, saying that the protest would only go ahead if at least 500 people committed to joining.
As of Monday evening, the group said that as many as 1,000 people had signed up, confirming on Tuesday that it would go ahead.
The protest will involve participants holding cardboard signs reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
DOJ has called similar protests over the last month since the government moved to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation on 4 July, making it a criminal offence to be a member of or show support for the group.
Falling foul of the law proscribing the group is punishable by a sentence of up to 14 years in prison.
The proscription followed an incident in which members broke into RAF Brize Norton and spray-painted two planes they said were “used for military operations in Gaza and across the Middle East”.
Since then, over 200 people have been arrested – including priests, vicars and former magistrates – after they were deemed by police officers to have expressed support for the group.
