Palestine Action called their designation as a terror group ‘an unhinged reaction’ to their actions protesting the UK’s complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza.
The UK government has banned activist group Palestine Action under the country’s anti-terrorism laws, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Monday.
The decision came after activists from the group broke into the country’s largest Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Brize Norton, Oxfordshire.
The group said they had damaged two military aircraft in the incident, reportedly costing the UK government in the process.
Home Secretary Cooper said “the disgraceful attack” on Brize Norton on Friday was “the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action”.
“In several attacks, Palestine Action has committed acts of serious damage to property with the aim of progressing its political cause and influencing the government,” she said in a statement.
The Home Secretary will reportedly present a draft proscription order in parliament next week, which, if passed, will make it illegal to be a member or a supporter of Palestine Action under Britain’s Terrorism Act of 2000.
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Violation of the ban could result in up to 14 years in prison.
Cooper stressed that the decision only pertains to Palestine Action, and not to any other groups protesting on behalf of the Palestinian cause or other issues in the Middle East.
Palestine Action, however, called the decision “an unhinged reaction to an action spraying paint in protest at the UK Government arming Israel’s slaughter of the Palestinian people”.
“The real crime here is not red paint being sprayed on these war planes, but the war crimes that have been enabled with those planes because of the UK Government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide,” they added in a statement to The New Arab.
The group also criticised Keir Starmer for “caving in” to pro-Israel lobby groups, as the UK prime minister, who formerly worked as a human rights lawyer, had previously defended protesters breaking into an RAF base in 2003 in protest against the Iraq War.
“It is plainly preposterous to rank us with terrorist groups like ISIS, National Action and Boko Haram.”
A pre-planned protest against the decision is currently taking place in London’s Trafalgar Square. The UK’s Met Police was seen charging into crowds, as demonstrators yelled “Shame on you!” in videos shared on social media.
Others chanted “We are all Palestine Action” in solidarity with the group.
Several Labour MPs earlier expressed concern over the proscription of Palestine Action, after Cooper said she was planning on taking necessary steps to categorise them under anti-terror laws on Friday.
The Labour MP for Nottingham East, Nadia Wittome, said targeting non-violent protests in this way is “a misuse of terrorism-related powers”.
“It sets a dangerous precedent, which governments in future could use against their critics,” she added.
Baroness Shami Chakrabarti told BBC Radio 4 on Monday that proscribing them would be a “serious escalation”.
Zarah Sultana, the Labour MP for Coventry South, said on X: “You can repair a plane. You can replace a broken window. But you can’t bring back the dead”.
“We must defend the right to protest,” she added.
Palestine Action was founded in 2020 by Huda Ammori and Richard Barnard. Its members have used several forms of direct action tactics to protest UK complicity in Israel’s occupation and violence in the Palestinian territories. The group has primarily targeted UK branches of Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, among others.
