Why was Palestine Action banned as a terror group and what is going to occur to arrested protesters? | EUROtoday

Palestine Action’s co-founder has received a High Court problem over the ban of the organisation as a terror group on two grounds, judges have mentioned.

Huda Ammori sought authorized motion in opposition to the division over the then-home secretary Yvette Cooper’s choice to proscribe the group beneath the Terrorism Act 2000.

Three judges, led by president of the King’s bench division, Dame Victoria Sharp, dominated on Friday that the choice was illegal.

The activist group had been allowed to problem the Home Office over its proscription as a terrorist organisation after the Court of Appeal dismissed an enchantment from the federal government company.

The direct motion group was banned by the federal government after a number of of its members have been accused of breaking into an Oxfordshire RAF base to spray-paint navy planes.

Formed in 2020, Palestine Action has performed a collection of direct motion protests over the previous 5 years, largely in opposition to arms producers working within the UK and promoting weapons to Israel.

Revealing the intention to ban the group following the incident on 23 June 2025, former residence secretary Yvette Cooper mentioned it was the most recent in a “long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action”.

Proscription has branded the group a terrorist organisation and made it unlawful to develop into a member of Palestine Action or solicit assist for it, the offence being punishable by as much as 14 years in jail.

At a listening to late final 12 months, barristers for Ms Ammori informed the courtroom that the choice to ban the group was illegal and needs to be quashed, with Palestine Action being the primary “direct-action civil disobedience organisation that does not advocate for violence” to be proscribed as a terrorist group.

What will occur to arrested protesters now?

More than 2,500 individuals have been arrested on suspicion of publicly displaying assist for Palestine Action because it was banned.

Palestine Action stays banned as a terror group to permit additional arguments and the federal government time to contemplate an enchantment, judges mentioned.

This means issues stay as they’re, for now. Should the Home Office finally rescind the conviction, then it could not be against the law to indicate assist for Palestine Action.

Should this occur, those that have been arrested however not charged for this offence would doubtless see their instances dropped.

Meanwhile, those that have been charged would have sturdy authorized grounds to have their instances dropped, and those that have already been convicted would have comparable grounds to enchantment their conviction.

In a abstract of the High Court’s choice, Dame Victoria Sharp mentioned: “The court considered that the proscription of Palestine Action was disproportionate.

“A very small number of Palestine Action’s activities amounted to acts of terrorism within the definition of Section 1 of the 2000 Act.

“For these, and for Palestine Action’s other criminal activities, the general criminal law remains available.

“The nature and scale of Palestine Action’s activities falling within the definition of terrorism had not yet reached the level, scale and persistence to warrant proscription.”

What has Palestine Action executed prior to now?

Palestine Action was established on 30 July 2020 after a gaggle of activists broke into and spray-painted the inside of Elbit Systems’ UK headquarters in London.

The defence contractor has continued to be the principle goal of Palestine Action’s protests since its formation. Based in Israel, Elbit Systems is the nation’s largest weapons producer. It provides the vast majority of the drones and land-based tools utilized by the Israeli navy.

In the UK, Elbit has a number of UK subsidiaries which function throughout 16 websites throughout the nation, with 680 staff. Its newest website is a producing and improvement facility in Bristol, opened in 2023.

On 19 May 2021, 4 members of Palestine Action wearing boiler fits climbed onto the roof of an Elbit-owned drone manufacturing unit in Leicester.

The motion was taken in response to a interval of unrest in May of that 12 months, by which 256 Palestinians and 17 Israelis have been killed.

Similar occupations have been carried out at Elbit-owned websites in Bristol, Oldham and Tamworth.

In April 2024, the group focused Somerset County Hall, a grade II-listed constructing owned by Somerset Council, by splashing it with crimson paint. This was in response to the native authority leasing a constructing to Elbit close to Bristol.

This website was focused by Palestine Action for the seventeenth time in March 2025, with 4 of the group’s members utilizing a cherry picker to wreck the constructing. One used a sledgehammer on a rope to smash home windows, whereas others spray-painted the constructing.

In June 2025, 4 activists allegedly a part of the group are accused of damaging two planes at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire by utilizing repurposed hearth extinguishers to spray crimson paint into their turbine engines and trigger additional injury with crowbars.

Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) mentioned the 4 had been charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a function prejudicial to the protection or pursuits of the UK, and conspiracy to commit prison injury. Palestine Action claimed accountability for the incident, saying it was a protest in opposition to the UK’s assist of Israel’s battle in Gaza.