Newsletter 250808 – Silence, Repression and More Repression
Over the past couple of months, the UK Labour government has continued its attack on long-held rights to peaceful protest. This is of course largely aimed at activists who want to halt the genocide in Gaza and bring Israel to account, but it’s easy to see it as the next stage in a process which already targeted climate action and other rights-based movements.
Although the terrorist proscription of non-violent direct action network Palestine Action has received quite a lot of media attention recently, there are other stories which have largely gone unnoticed. It’s been a while since our last newsletter, so there will be another catch-up next week on some other stories you may have missed.
SILENCE
Early in June we reported on a large protest organised at short notice, to form a ‘Red Line’ around Parliament during PMQs, calling for an arms embargo and sanctions on Israel. Hundreds of metres of red fabric were unfurled, along with massive banners, and more than a thousand people dressed in red formed a ring (across two bridges and the opposite Thames bank) around Parliament. Additionally, rebel Labour MPs staged a walk-out in front of Starmer, sporting large badges calling for an arms embargo.
But you didn’t see the powerful images on corporate or state media. And The Guardian’s coverage was either an outright lie or guesswork – they showed an image of Jeremy Corbyn with a few protesters, mentioned his call for an independent inquiry into Britain’s complicity with Israel, and described him as being joined by ‘dozens of protesters’. We asked them to take a look at our film and correct their article. They didn’t.
Although the horrifying recent escalation of war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank is beginning to receive coverage, the almost daily protests of varying types are not. One recent one that you might think should have had media attention was when hundreds of Jews and UK-based Israelis gathered outside the Foreign Office with pots and pans for a very noisy protest. It included a heart-wrenching reading of a message from ‘Tariq’, which you can find in our coverage here.
REPRESSION
After Palestine Action’s vandalism at the Brize Norton airbase acted as the apparent trigger for Yvette Cooper to announce the terrorist proscription of the group in June, they have had more corporate and state coverage than in the previous nearly five years of direct actions.
Activists wanting to show support before it became unlawful were faced with a draconian announcement – the Metropolitan Police issued a far-reaching Section 14 notice banning protest from a huge area around Parliament ‘to prevent serious violence and disruption to the public’.
Hundreds lawfully congregated just outside the restricted area, including families with children, pensioners, Quakers, doctors and church ministers. The crowd was too large and spilled onto the street, thereby causing more disruption than they would have done outside Parliament. Dozens of riot police turned up in full gear, and police snatch squads waded into the crowd – all designed to provoke and intimidate a peaceful event. Rather than questioning the ban, right-wing press published images of the huge police operation, characterising the protesters as a violent mob.
Watch our film here, but do please remember that if you share it in a way which might be interpreted as showing support for what is now a proscribed organisation, you may be committing an offence. The film was published before the ban, and is fair and accurate reporting of a solidarity event which took place before the ban.
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On the eve of the proscription, as a late night High Court appeal on behalf of Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori failed to secure an interim stay on enforcement, we published a piece outlining how over a period of five years, under pressure from the Israeli government and a private arms company, the government tried but failed to curb the actions of the Palestine Action network. In this context, the controversial proscription looked like a last desperate measure. It may yet prove to be unlawful. Last week, in a further ‘permissions hearing’, Mr Justice Martin Chamberlain ruled that there are two legal grounds on which the Home Secretary’s proscription decision can be challenged, so there will be a three-day long Judicial Review in mid-November.
In the meantime, a campaign calling for de-proscription has quickly grown. Real Media reported on three successive weeks of peaceful and silent actions – people holding banners suggesting support in defiance of the Terrorism Act. The first week, we carefully edited the footage in fear of prosecution, but the corporate and state media (who can afford lawyers) went ahead, so our film coverage of the second and third weeks were published ‘uncensored’, but is not intended to encourage support for a proscribed terrorist group.
With the announcement this week that hundreds will take part in a similar protest today (Sat 9th Aug), not only have portions of media woken up to the issue more widely, and concerns have been raised by groups such as Amnesty and the United Nations, but also the authorities appear to have doubled down, with government spokespeople quoted as asking people not to take part, the Metropolitan Police warning that even if hundreds turn up in defiance, they will still face arrest. The first three charges out of more than a hundred arrests to date were suddenly announced on Thursday. (These were low-level summary offences under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000).
The organisers of today’s protest, Defend Our Juries, have also had to change their web address when their domain was taken down this week apparently due to pressure from the authorities. On Thursday evening, hundreds of people intending to take part in today’s de-proscription protest attended an online meeting which had to be rearranged at very short notice after the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit ordered Zoom to shut it down.
Yesterday, Defend Our Juries published open letters to Yvette Cooper and Met Commissioner Mark Rowley suggesting the Home Secretary surrender herself for investigation under the Genocide Act 1969, and referring Sir Rowley to the Amnesty letter accusing him of violations of international law.
What will happen today is anyone’s guess. The Met have warned that anyone taking part is liable to arrest, and that they have plans to deal with hundreds. If the Met does deploy huge resources and use terrorist legislation to arrest hundreds of ordinary citizens demonstrating concern over authoritarian and corrupt government, it is very likely to raise rather than dispel dissent.
MORE REPRESSION
Cambridge police appear to have found a way to undermine a court ruling which reinforced the right to peaceful protest. Private company MBR Acres breeds Beagle puppies for animal testing laboratories – they also sell organs and blood from these creatures born into captivity. After the company spent a reported £4 million trying and failing to get a private injunction against protesters from Camp Beagle, the police have now served ‘Community Protection Notices’ on several activists, with some similar restrictions to those in the failed proceedings. It is believed to be the first time the legislation has been used against protesters. More details here.
Sul Nowroz recently took a look at the Crime and Police Bill going through Parliament. Among the alarm bells in terms of criminalisation of protest is the section on ‘respect orders’, which is designed to ‘prohibit a wide range of anti-social behaviours’. The vague drafting, low trigger thresholds and possible wide restrictions on future behaviour are very powerful tools for an authoritarian regime determined to crush dissent. Read Sul’s excellent analysis here.
