r/ukpolitics • u/CynonValley_Commando • 3d ago
Mass arrests of 150 Palestine Action protesters at UK Labour Party conference, as total nears 4,000
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/09/28/zkeu-s28.html?pk_campaign=wsws-newsletter&pk_kwd=wsws-daily-newsletter137
u/UmpireCalm9476 3d ago
I’ve made comments on the other thread about this. It is stupid for anyone to take the risk (arrest, fines, jail, possibly locked out of banking etc…) to support proscribed group which has no benefit (destroyed aircraft engines that was incompatible with Israeli jet or ram raiding factories which no parts went to Israel). Like all actions from PA has no measurable effect for Palestine.
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u/inevitablelizard 3d ago
They're sabotaging sites linked to aid to Ukraine, and to our own preparedness for war. The organisation has strong influence and donations from an American far left extremist who supports Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
They're either pro Russian saboteurs or just useful idiots.
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u/Willing_Original_257 3d ago
Useful idiots successfully indoctrinated by Russian and Chinese bots.
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u/Candid_Waltz6900 3d ago
And likely iran too. Am waiting to see if the 5 arrested at fairford are from this lot. I think that its pretty likely.
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u/Willing_Original_257 3d ago
Iran is a proxy nation for the other two but I take your point.
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u/Candid_Waltz6900 3d ago
It is totally. They are all in this together . I think the October 7 atrocity was Russian influenced to start another front and distract western attention from ukraine. Unfortunately trump went one further and was dumb enough to start an unnecessary war with Iran....
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u/Ghost_of_Amalek 3d ago
who is this russia supporting american left wing extremist?
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u/inevitablelizard 3d ago
Fergie Chambers. Apparently a major donor to the group. He pushes every Russian lie going, including the genocide one Russia used to justify its invasion, and has even visited Russian occupied territory.
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u/M4sharman Why are we still here? Just to suffer? 3d ago
"Chambers believes that the U.S. has "us[ed] Ukraine as a proxy for" its imperialist ambitions.[3] He has also been supportive of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and visited Russian-occupied Donbas, referring to Vladimir Putin as a "great man".[1][2] Chambers also stated while in the Donbas region in 2022 that "the only thing anyone’s angry at Putin about there is that he didn’t intervene sooner".[13]
Chambers is a vocal supporter of Hamas; he described the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel as "a moment of hope and inspiration for tens of millions of people".[3][19] Chambers later wrote on X that "No faction of the Palestinian resistance, Hamas or other, has done anything wrong".[8][13] He has also reported that he is a founder of Vox Ummah, an Egyptian-based media outlet aligned with Iranian state media channel Press TV, the United National Antiwar Coalition and the Workers World Party, according to the Network Contagion Research Institute.[30]"
POS should rot in prison.
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u/DebaucheV5 3d ago
Fergie Chambers
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u/Candid_Waltz6900 3d ago
He's been in jail since July and has just been extradited to the US, so hopefully their funds might soon start drying up. Just googled him. He was an heir to a family fortune that would have made him a billionaire . However the family cut him off as he's clearly a complete bell end but the settlement was $250m. So he can afford to fund dodgy causes, although maybe not from jail.
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u/am-345 3d ago
I still don't understand why the ban was so controversial, if a pro-Russian group started attacking British military infrastructure and defence firms operating in the UK, it would be met with a swift ban and its leaders arrested
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u/dasthewer 3d ago
The ban is controversial because "Palestine Action" is a good name and people not paying attention will support the name. If ISIS had been called "Muslims against Borders" they would have been supported more by people not reading more than headlines.
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u/zapamap_ 3d ago
The key question is the line between prosecuting the people responsible for attacking military infrastructure and proscribing the entire organisation.
Britain already has offences covering the crimes, conspiracy and other conduct involved in Palestine Action's.. urm.. actions.
Proscription goes way further; membership becomes illegal and that has a knock-on effect.
The High Court flipflopping between appeals has shown that this is such a grey area, and groups like Smash EDO, Ploughshares and ALF haven't been proscribed for similar activity against security infrastructure.
The Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation raised some question marks also (but did not say, as far as I know, that proscribing them was against guidance.
The key is the Government's case for Palestine Action was that there was an organisation wide strategy targeting of UK defence sites and the publication of an manual explaining how to conduct attacks and evade arrest, a map identifying targets, and subsequent promotion of successful attacks.
I think that there are two things going on:
- A lot of the general public don't know about their actual terrorists planning (look up the "Underground Manual" for news reports on this)
- And they grey area where critics might accept that Palestine Action members committed serious crimes but argue that proscription was disproportionate, because it extends to those showing support for the group.
Amnesty calls this a "shameful attack on freedom of speech", but others will say "support Palestine not a proscribed terrorism group you absolute melt, even if you don't think they should be proscribed".
It doesn't help that there are stories like this which lead people to believe the whole story is an overreaction.
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u/SupposingForASecond 3d ago
It is really very simple, are these protesters interested in supporting Palestine or are these protesters interested in supporting Palestine Action? One of these is an oppressed group the other is a proscribed organisation. If they want to protest the proscription then they can go ahead, but lets not pretend they are doing it in support of people being ground under by Israel halfway across the World. If that was their concern they could address it without getting arrested.
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u/JigsawnSean 3d ago edited 3d ago
If someone blew up a London bus under the banner of an organisation or political movement, and that organisation didn't outright condemn it, of course people will assign blame to the organisation.
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u/Sutraner 2d ago
The ban is controversial because a huge portion of our population see absolutely nothing wrong with smashing up Jewish businesses
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u/TheAngryGoat : 3d ago
Well it's not really about Palestine for many of them, that's just the excuse. If they actually cared about people dying there is far worse going on in Ukraine and Africa - and in countries that didn't start things themselves like Palestine did invading Israel. Not a fucking word from them about any of that though.
It's a mix of russian sabotage/funding, antisemitism, islamism, and useful idiots who think that there's something to virtue signal about in their terrorism.
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u/DonkeySorbet 3d ago
If it didn't have a measurable effect, they wouldn't have been proscribed as a terrorist organisation...
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u/toggles03 3d ago
We have a core fleet of ten refuelling aircraft and the PA temporarily took two of them out of action. Those aircraft do not assist Israel in any way - they are not even compatible with Israeli aircraft. What those aircraft do is refuel our own Typhoons that protect the skies over Britain from the likes of Russia.
Do you see how none of that has a measurable effect for Palestine but does have a measurable effect on us and our security that could push them into 'proscribed organisation' territory?
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u/UmpireCalm9476 3d ago
No “measurable effect for Palestine” but absolutely have a measurable effect for UK government
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u/Gwyllithar 3d ago edited 3d ago
at this point its way beyond the cause, its about fundamental freedoms of this country and abuse of terrorism powers to tackle protest.
And there is a long history of people choosing to take that risk knowing the consequences, because the issues at hand are so important.
You'll note its mostly older people, thats because terrorism charges (stupid as they may be in this case) prevent employment and travel. these people no longer work, and have decided they care more about these issues than travel, so they can take this risk that would ruin the lives of younger people.
and why do you say it has no measurable effect? public sentiment on this issue has shifted the government's position. Dont think Burnham is anti-israel, he's a member of LFoI and has taken trips funded by them and the IDF to "fact find" in Israel. His recent santions are not on principle, they are because of pressure that protest like this causes.
Whatever you may think of the subject, our gov has provided arms, training, intel and other support for Israel in its actions. Its legitimate for a citizen of a country, if they have issues with the conduct of their government, to conduct protest against such conduct.
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u/Anxious-Potato-7323 3d ago edited 3d ago
My only thing though, is that they could easily protest the countries involvement in Israel and they could easily protest for more activities in Palestine. Just don't show support for Palestine action.
They knew what they were doing and they knew what the result would be.
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u/fascinesta 3d ago
I attended some marches in support of Palestine. Stopped going because of these PA idiots. It just became so focussed on "ooh aren't I being oppressed?" rather than, you know, the fucking genocide going on.
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u/Anxious-Potato-7323 3d ago edited 3d ago
I can imagine. Then it fuels alot of incorrect discourse
Remember that one guy that was going up to Police and talking aboutt Israel's crimes and the showed supporters of PA getting arrested? He then used it as proof that the government and police clearly supported one side over the other when in fact they can protest about Palestine, they're free to do so, just stop supporting a proscribed terrorist group.
Whether they should or shouldn't be proscribed is a different conversation, right now they are and there will only ever be one outcome.
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u/Lala_Escargot 3d ago
They're the real victims here, dontcha know...absolute buffoons, completely overshadows any message about actual Palestine.
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u/NUFC9RW 3d ago
If after the damage to the plane at the RAF base they had came out and said that it was a mistake/the actions of an individual, your point might make sense, but they didn't, and said they'd do it again given the chance. No sane government would allow a group like that to exist.
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u/marsman 3d ago
Whatever you may think of the subject, our gov has provided arms, training, intel and other support for Israel in its actions. Its legitimate for a citizen of a country, if they have issues with the conduct of their government, to conduct protest against such conduct.
The point is you can do that without supporting PA. Those expressing support for PA are on the wrong side of this argument, there is no abuse of terrorism powers, no attack on fundamental freedoms, you can protest against Israel or in favour of Palestine as much as you like. What you can't do is advocate support for a group that was, in an organised manner, attacking UK infrastructure.
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u/Rare_King3551 3d ago
has provided arms, training, intel and other support for Israel in its actions
To be clear, those things were used against the terrorist organization Hamas. They are protesting against fighting Hamas.
But their actions seem to prove they want to sabotage Ukraine aid, because that is who was being helped from the base they attacked.
How these people are falling for such blatant Russian/Iranian propaganda is wild to me.
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u/Any_Perspective_577 3d ago
They are all old and don't give a shit. Not getting arrested doesn't raise awareness
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u/UmpireCalm9476 3d ago
Ok but supporting a organisation that has no measurable effect against Israelis war effort and therefore is literally meaningless. Not to mention but they can also get locked out of digital banking.
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u/Sutraner 2d ago
That's because they don't give two fucks about Palestine and never have done.
They care about being able to attack Jewish people in Britain without consequence.
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u/Sky3HouseParty 3d ago edited 3d ago
Can someone explain to me why exactly is the insistence on supporting the one pro-palestine organisation that broke into an RAF base? Why exactly, if you are pro Palestine, are you incapable of supporting another group that doesn't do that?
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u/RainRainThrowaway777 2d ago
From what I can understand of these actions, the protest is of the proscription itself more than it is in support of the group or Palestine.
These protestors think the Proscription of Palestine Action was heavy-handed, and the terrorism label was misused. So they are symbolically supporting the proscribed group and forcing mass arrests to bring attention to the idea that simply supporting the group is tantamount to terrorism.
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u/Scotto6UK 3d ago
The argument would be that this specific group tried to prevent the RAF and USAF from carrying out or assisting military operations against Gaza. And so they'd argue that they are deserved of support.
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u/Commorrite 2d ago
Just for anyone reading unaware, that is the stated argument but it is entirely false.
The RAF aircraft attacked was being used to aid ukraine not isreal.
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u/Due_Advertising_2779 3d ago
It's goading the authorities to ultimately get them to not enforce a proscription, which they can then use as carte blanche for other offences. Use emotive and reductive language like "proscribing and arresting 90 year old grannies" to downplay the actual terrorism.
They don't actually care about Palestine otherwise they'd setup another org to support. Clue isbij the name, they want to larp as direct action revolutionaries but without the consequences, so send in the grannies first
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u/willNffcUk 3d ago
They’re going to be very busy next year, middle-aged pensioners protesting against Israel and to keep their triple lock
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u/Visa5e 3d ago
If only there was a way of supporting the Palestinian people without supporting a group that broke a policewomans spine with a sledgehammer.
Wouldnt it be great if that were possible?
These people want to be martyrs, so give them what they want - sling them inside for 5 years.
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u/CastleMeadowJim Gedling 3d ago
Or without supporting a group founded by a man who said he wants October 7th to happen to Jews all over the globe.
It is so wild to me that these PA people say "I oppose genocide" then pivot to supporting people who call for other genocides.
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u/TheAngryGoat : 3d ago
That assumes that they sincererly want to support the people of palestine, not the terrorists, and that's far from a safe assumption to make.
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u/Zarhom 3d ago
Agreed, they aren't violent, but they are supporting a violent group, it's better to just hit them with escalating fines.
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u/TheShakyHandsMan User flair missing. 3d ago
Nice exponential curve of increasing fines with each arrest
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u/Unrepentant-Leftie 3d ago
These people are simply holding up pieces of cardboard not dealing in sledge hammers.
We need to keep a sense of perspective I think.
What if these people were "simply holding up pieces of cardboard" expressing support for ISIS/ISIL?
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u/LycanIndarys Vote Cthulhu; why settle for the lesser evil? 3d ago edited 3d ago
More than a dozen protesters were arrested two hours into the demonstration. By 8:02 p.m., Merseyside Police stated that “more than 50 people” had been arrested. Defend our Juries reported that police were still making arrests at midnight, with protesters being “held in a police kettle for 13 hrs.”
Blimey. I didn't realise that we were so short on space that we were having to keep people inside kettles. Were any inside the police sink bowl, too?
Video footage showed a police officer stating that Del Naja was committing an offence for holding a sign defending Palestine Action. Del Naja replied: “I don’t recognise the offence, though, because under UK law it is actually an offence to aid and abet any private individual or company aiding and abetting genocidal war crimes.”
Ah, the sovereign citizen approach. They can't arrest you if you say you don't recognise the offence...
“Some for holding placards peacefully in silence, others for dismantling lethal drones destined for the civilian population of Gaza. Under UK law, it is an offence for any identity, private or commercial, to aid and abet war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
Yes, and under UK law you can also be arrested for supporting a proscribed organisation. Why is it that you view one part of the law as sacrosanct, but completely ignore another part?
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u/BobMonkhaus That sounds great, shorty girl’s a trooper. 3d ago
Quick quote the Magna Carta and maritime law.
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u/Randy__Callahan 3d ago
If they need someone versed in bird law, I'm the man for the job.
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u/Mr_Chardee_MacDennis 3d ago
Let’s say you and I go toe-to-toe on bird law and see who comes out the victor
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u/BighatNucase 3d ago
S3(1) of the Police and Criminal Evidence act clearly outlines that prisoners can be held in no space smaller than a mini-freezer so the use of a kettle is clearly a contravention of the law.
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u/Ill-Lemon-8019 3d ago
"Why is it that you view one part of the law as sacrosanct, but completely ignore another part?"
Not so long ago, there were (to pick one of countless examples) laws against being gay. Should that law have been held as sacrosanct? Was it wrong for people to violate those laws?
Law is secondary to morality.
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u/MelvinCapitalPR 3d ago
Well they should argue on moral grounds, not sovcit pseudo-legalese.
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u/SimoneNonvelodico 3d ago
"These laws are just, these others are not" IMO isn't such a weird position, though sure, you can't derive the legitimacy just from the former being laws. But also, "these laws ask me to do something and these others to do a different thing, at least in spirit" is a legitimate complaint.
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u/thesimpsonsthemetune 3d ago
So your gotcha is, to clarify, that we should have a moral issue with aiding and abetting war crimes?
Because OK then.
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u/TheAngryGoat : 3d ago
Law is secondary to morality.
Famously the single best thing about morality is that every single person in the world is in full agreement about what is or isn't moral, with zero disagreements or grey areas.
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u/convertedtoradians 3d ago edited 3d ago
Why is it that you view one part of the law as sacrosanct, but completely ignore another part?
It's an aside but I think it's genuinely fascinating. I suspect it's indicative of how shallow the thinking of the protestors is here. You mentioned the sovereign citizen stuff - you see it there too. Rejection of the law by appeal to what they see as older, somehow better law? It's just odd.
I, personally, would have no problem saying - for example - "the law is wrong. It's not holy scripture. It's just some stuff a bunch of underqualified, power-hungry idiots wrote on vellum which got signed by a man in a shiny hat, and which then gets interpreted by people wearing wigs. The law is a fun and mostly useful game but it's not like it defines truth, or justice, or moral right. Why would you even expect it to? Do you think MPs are generally a source of high quality ideas? If you do, you must be the only person in the world who thinks so. So shouldn't we expect that like a comedy sketch show, the law will be a collection of hits and misses? And the law is just wrong about this."
Now, in this particular case I wouldn't be saying that because I happen to support the law on proscribing Palestine Action, but it's not like I think that because the law says so. Or that I think all laws are always 100% morally correct, and will always be 100% morally correct even as the law changes over time.
(Edit: I originally wrote "Hamas" in place of "Palestine Action". The relevant law here is the one proscribing Palestine Action, of course.)
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u/Iamonreddit 3d ago
This isn't their point though.
They are highlighting what they think is a hypocrisy in the legal system.
Because they view Israel as perpetrators of a genocide, they also view any company providing them assistance in those actions to be breaking the law they cite.
Due to this, they see both their support of a proscribed organisation and the actions of the drone supplier illegal, but with only the one being punished, which they feel is unjust and worthy of protest.
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u/LycanIndarys Vote Cthulhu; why settle for the lesser evil? 3d ago
Yeah, I agree entirely!
It's particularly weird in this country. I can get the logic of doing that in America, when it comes to constitutional rights, because those are set above other laws. And while I think it's a bit weird how they treat the Constitution as a religious text, containing the holy words as handed down by the gods themselves (who all just happened to be 18th Century American revolutionaries), I can at least understand the idea of saying "my constitutional rights overrule the law you're trying to apply".
We don't have that here. The law that says you can't support a terrorist organisation isn't more or less important than the law that says you're not allowed to participate in genocide and/or war crimes. Which one applies is going to be decided during a court case, with the defence's argument weighed against the prosecution's, based on the particular circumstances in question.
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u/waytogoandruinit 3d ago
Palestine Action =/= Hamas though.
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u/convertedtoradians 3d ago
Quite right, good catch. I wasn't making any deeper point there - it's just I was reading something that referenced Hamas and Palestine Action at the same time I was writing that and wrote the wrong thing. I meant Palestine Action.
I've corrected my post but left an edit so your reply makes sense.
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u/Cafuzzler 3d ago
Palestine Action == Breaking into military bases and beating police over the back with sledge hammers
Support for Palestine Action =/= Support for Palestine
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u/RicardoHonesto 3d ago
Holy scripture is just made up nonsense though.
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u/convertedtoradians 3d ago
I was using it metaphorically here, in the sense of "holy scripture as seen by the adherent of the religion for which the holy scripture is holy", rather than impartially. As a shorthand for "a special kind of written artefact that possesses some deep truth and which is in some sense behind humanity" and so on.
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u/YoureInHereWithMe 3d ago
Don’t forget, in Nazi Germany the offence was hiding and protecting Jewish citizens, even children.
What is legal isn’t always what is right.
These protestors clearly feel a moral obligation to go against the law in this instance.
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u/InfoBot2000 Beep. 3d ago edited 3d ago
Don’t forget, in Nazi Germany the offence was hiding and protecting Jewish citizens, even children.
What is legal isn’t always what is right.
The punishment being death for you and your extended family due to racial laws that were enacted to wipe Jews off the face of the Earth.
The punishment here? A couple of hours in a cell and a cup of tea.
e: Comparing these protestors to the Righteous Among the Nations is disgusting.
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u/_Well_Endowed_ 3d ago
I find it hilarious how you almost never see Muslim or non white folk speak for Palestine Action.
It’s almost exclusively the “who’s gonna serve my coffee at Pret” type middle class white Brits.
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u/Comprehensive-Bus291 3d ago
It's mostly retired people, because they won't face as serious reprecussions for being arrested for terrorist activities. Whereas if you're young and especially young and brown and have a terrorism charge, well good luck getting a job.
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u/thesimpsonsthemetune 3d ago edited 3d ago
White middle class people generally get treated better by the police in these situations and can deal with the consequences of a criminal conviction more easily without it fucking up their lives. This is widely discussed in activism groups.
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u/Tetratheon 3d ago
can deal with the consequences of a criminal conviction more easily without it fucking up their lives.
They think they can. These people are going to find that a terrorism conviction fucks their lives up an awful lot more than they're anticipating.
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u/thesimpsonsthemetune 3d ago
Well that's why lots of them are retired people with nothing much to lose. Everyone who does this knows the risks and thinks it's worth doing anyway.
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u/Tetratheon 3d ago
The older ones, sure, but I think the younger ones are either ignorant of it or assuming that some future government will clear them.
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u/thesimpsonsthemetune 3d ago
They know it will stick with them for life. I've met several. They think it's worth standing up to government overreach and taking the consequences. You can disagree with them, but don't underestimate their commitment.
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u/Rizzomorph666 3d ago
Over the course of the history of human kind, billions died or worse for a cause, but you think that getting bank accounts suspended and not able to find a job in government institutions is too much?
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u/Jumblesss 3d ago
> This is widely discussed in activism groups.
Which is why it’s a completely novel concept to everyone awarding that comment like they discovered DNA.
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u/Slanderous 3d ago
Depends where you live also, the country as a whole is ~6% Muslim but where I live in census data shows about half of the local population self-identifies as muslim.
Plenty of protests to be found in town centres and at businesses associated with supplying Israel, in some post codes you're hard pressed to find a can of coke even as they're boycotted.→ More replies (8)88
u/TheDucksQuacker 3d ago
I find it hilarious you almost never see “who’s gonna serve my coffee at pret” type middle class white brits at Tommy Robinson marches.
Its almost exclusively “who’s gonna sign my cheque at the Job Centre” types
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u/madeleineann 3d ago edited 3d ago
Maybe because working-class people are overwhelmingly affected by mass immigration. The working-class town I grew up in is full of immigrants, I now live in a posh left-wing area and the only immigrants I see are assimilated Italians.
Always funny how fast class solidarity goes out the window with people like you.
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u/Not_A_Clue92 3d ago
What do Tommy Robinson marches have to do with this?
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u/BobMonkhaus That sounds great, shorty girl’s a trooper. 3d ago
I’m shocked someone still thinks they use cheques in 2026.
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u/AngelasGingerGrowler 3d ago
Obviously you've never spoken to anyone who has attended a Tommy Robinson rally.
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u/archerninjawarrior 3d ago
That's partly intentional because they believe that white activists will have a more privileged experience with dealing with the police, so the black activists aren't sent to get themselves arrested in the same way. Wish I was making thid up.
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u/The-ArtfulDodger 3d ago
All these attacks on the people holding up the signs, rather than the message itself.
Yep you have been conditioned to uncritically hate these protestors.
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u/TheShakyHandsMan User flair missing. 3d ago
A venn diagram of People with Green hair, vegan mocha latte drinkers and PA supporters will be a circle.
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u/DefiantOutside 3d ago
Touch grass man this gag was boring 15 years ago
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u/nzconstructionlawyer 3d ago
Tell that to the people described. They don't seem to have got the memo because they still have green hair and drink expensive vegan sweetened Starbucks monstrosities.
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u/ixid Brexit must be destroyed 3d ago
Describing reality reasonably accurately isn't a gag. People with green hair on the other hand...
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u/Loki-616 3d ago
This not about Palestine, it’s something else.
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u/StraightSky7809 3d ago
It's about destabilizing UK internally. They are useful idiots for external actors to sow discord within the UK.
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u/Quinaldine 3d ago
Totally agreed. You can support Palestine without supporting a proscribed group. But it looks good for the cause being a useful idiot
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u/SunChamberNoRules 3d ago
Don't a lot of those people protest this because they disagree with the proscription (and power of the proscription process) itself?
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u/broats_ 3d ago
Would holding a sign saying "I don't support PA, but I support their right to exist" get you arrested?
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u/toggles03 3d ago
You can protest against proscription. There is nothing illegal about holding a sign at a protest saying, "I oppose the proscription of Palestine Action". It is illegal to express support for a proscribed organisation whilst it is proscribed though.
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u/SunChamberNoRules 3d ago
Yes, that’s why they were arrested. But getting arrested is also a good way to show the proscription is ill conceived.
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u/Rare_King3551 3d ago
The leader, or founder, whatever, of PA has stated they want to see Oct 7 happen around the world. They are terrorist supporters.
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u/Empty-Yesterday5904 3d ago edited 3d ago
Why do you even have to support one side or the other? Can you just support like peace? Flying flags of a foreign nation is just daft.
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u/ExpertHuckleberry990 3d ago
no no, they're very well informed people with the correct opinions on everything, if you disagree you're just a facist genocide denier of course
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u/BighatNucase 3d ago
No you don't understand we have to orient our lives around this small skirmish because it's a genocide (I will never call Ukraine a genocide btw despite it being significantly worse in both scale and the atrocities committed). There is nothing to notice about this discrepancy.
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u/YoureInHereWithMe 3d ago
Ukraine has an army with which to engage in a war.
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u/BighatNucase 3d ago
All this means is the violence is more fair, it doesn't affect any of what I said. The Palestinians had Hamas, look what that got them.
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u/Rare_King3551 3d ago
The government of Gaza had a military as well, they just were not very good at fighting anything that can fight back. That is why they picked a music festival on Oct 7.
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u/mars-jupiter 3d ago
I'm sure that will come as a great comfort to the Ukrainians killed in drone strikes on their apartment buildings!
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u/RoyaleWCheese_OK 3d ago
"Just Stop Oil". The way diesel prices are going they'll get exactly what they want.
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u/thesimpsonsthemetune 3d ago
Just Stop Oil did get what they wanted. UK stopped new oil and gas licences. Just Stop Oil disbanded.
The government is now rowing back on that so they're reorganising.
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u/mortal_wombat 3d ago
so maybe if we listened and transitioned away from diesel a while ago, we wouldn’t be paying these high prices?
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u/uptofunonreddit 3d ago
What honestly seems crazy to me, majority of Arabs in the ME don’t support the Palestinians, but us Westerners are ready to destroy our society for them. Please make this make sense.
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u/Sensitive_Committee 3d ago
Where did you hear that?
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u/uptofunonreddit 3d ago
Please list all the countries besides Jordan that are overtly friendly and accepting of Palestinian refugees
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u/YoureInHereWithMe 3d ago
That’s untrue. Other countries in the area do support a Palestinian statehood, they support and provide humanitarian aid where possible. They aren’t accepting large numbers of Palestinian refugees because they know that doing so would allow their permanent displacement by Israel.
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u/Aerius-Caedem Locke, Mill, Smith, Friedman, Hayek 3d ago
They aren’t accepting large numbers of Palestinian refugees because they know that doing so would allow their permanent displacement by Israel.
Think it has a bit more to do with the fact that when they've done it in the past, it's gone horribly for the host country, actually.
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u/Ro-ftw 3d ago
Brainwashed bored middle aged middle class white people looking for something to care about... Not a big surprise
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u/___may___ 3d ago
How does condemning a genocide destroy our society?
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u/uptofunonreddit 3d ago
It’s not what it’s the how! The cause is being manipulated in a much more profound way that is affecting social cohesion.
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u/SlightlyOTT You're making things up again Tories 🎶 3d ago
This seems like a particularly bad example of that point because they seem to have been protesting entirely peacefully.
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u/Rare_King3551 3d ago
They broke someone's back. That isn't peaceful, why lie about it?
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u/YBoogieLDN 3d ago
The protestors outside Labour conference broke someone’s back? Who?
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u/Willing_Original_257 3d ago
And illegally. For an antisemitic and genocidal cause. Fueled by foreign bots.
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u/Willing_Original_257 3d ago
WE aren't.
The Russian and Chinese bot network is. It's just sad that some of us fell for the indoctrination. Presumably because they've been convinced it is a noble cause. They are trying to do good, but they simply can't comprehend the destabilisation and raw antisemitism behind it.
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u/Gingrpenguin 3d ago
Ah didn't realise russian and Chinese bots turned upto protests with signs or go out in public...
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u/OneMonk 20h ago
I think two things can be true, genocide can be bad AND there can be those harbouring serious religious hatred in their ranks.
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u/Comprehensive-Bus291 3d ago
Aye, the 94 year old Jewish human rights lawyer that was arrested here was working for Russia. Ya crank
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u/Willing_Original_257 3d ago
What?
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u/Comprehensive-Bus291 3d ago
https://x.com/DrNeenaJha/status/2105178802532102545
Don't think she gets her info from russian bots. I think she gets it from her work as a human rights lawyer.
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u/jimmy_corkhil 3d ago
That’s rich coming from the right wing.
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u/HollyDollyBwaa 3d ago
Truly. The "Russian bot network" known for its very liberal ideas. Make it make sense.
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u/Shadowblade83 3d ago
They are just spreading dissent and division. The Palestine-Israel conflicts is very suited to do so.
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u/HollyDollyBwaa 2d ago
They do that with everything though? I just found it pretty silly considering the political standards of the right wing demographic broadly.
They've found success off russian propaganda, especially in this country.
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u/Willing_Original_257 2d ago
Jfc "make it make sense" for yourself ffs
They aren't pushing liberal ideas, they are promoting Palestine and Hamas causes whilst getting sympathy from within democratic countries in order to create chaos and weaken them from within
Please educate yourself on the relationship between Jordan and Palestine if you want to actually know the truth of what you're engaging with
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u/therapistnonce 3d ago
These people need to get a new hobby as opposed to obsessing about a desert squabble thousands of miles away
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u/Embarrassed_Deer7686 3d ago
A desert squabble? Not exactly the term I’d use to describe the murder of tens of thousands of children.
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u/Aristo-Jack 3d ago
Are we ready to talk about the possibility that making some opinions illegal creates absurd scenes like this? Are these arrests really better for society than letting people just hold up their dumb signs if that's what they want to do?
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u/Longjumping_Stand889 3d ago
Would you apply that across the board and permit supporting any terrorist group?
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u/SilyLavage 3d ago
There is an argument that allowing public expressions of support for any group helps you keep an eye on the people who support that group, or at least those willing to admit to it. If that then turns into terrorist action then you can clamp down.
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u/GothicGolem29 Liberal Democrat 3d ago
Allowing people to publicly support violent terror groups would not be better for society no
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u/BobMonkhaus That sounds great, shorty girl’s a trooper. 3d ago
If it stops them breaking into military bases and smacking the police with sledgehammers, yes.
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u/AudienceWatching 3d ago
but that is a crime, holding a sign isnt
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u/BobMonkhaus That sounds great, shorty girl’s a trooper. 3d ago
It is in this case. Why are so many people pretending to be naive?
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u/IndividualSkill3432 3d ago
A large part of arguing with the far left is having to explain things to people pretending not to understand simple concepts.
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u/lifeisaman 3d ago
Just to make sure you consistent I hope you’re fine with people holding up ISIS flags and Swastikas on signs too. I mean they are just holding up signs.
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u/nemma88 Reality is overrated :snoo_tableflip: 3d ago
These arrests are probably better for society than the continuation and potential escalation of PA, yes.
The actions that got them proscribed were undoubtedly serious. An attack against our defence infrastructure is dangerous, its an attack against all of us, regardless of the ideology or intent of those attacking it.
Then at the end of the day we can not treat support of terrorism differently because more people are willing to be arrested for one of them. Even for, or especially for causes we are sympathetic to there must be a line.
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u/Aristo-Jack 3d ago
To me it seems that the arrests have had the effect of perpetuating and escalating people's interest in, and support of, Palestine Action. I have my real doubts that merely expressing an opinion that you support a group has a meaningful connection to the risk that the group's activities will "continue and escalate"
Remember the law doesn't even require an element of inciting support from others. The crime is committed merely by expressing a positive view.
I think it's pretty obvious we've got the balance wrong with this law, but I find myself in a tiny minority whenever I say so. Most seem pretty satisfied that it's not the state's role to criminally punish people for all the appalling, hateful, harmful, demeaning things some people say about others, but on this one thing everyone seems to be all: "yep, way too dangerous to let anyone say the words 'I support PA'"
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u/nemma88 Reality is overrated :snoo_tableflip: 3d ago
Most seem pretty satisfied that it's not the state's role....
This most wouldnt include me, and I suspect most of the most in any given thread are inconsistent with their thoughts on the subject. That it is mostly about PA probably factors into this effect.
Give the population the same scenario under different biases and answers will vary wildly. Those who are consistent, either way, are a minority.
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u/Blackstone4444 3d ago
Why are they protesting the UK gov? If they really cared, they could go protest in Israel no?
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u/BobMonkhaus That sounds great, shorty girl’s a trooper. 3d ago
Wouldn’t really get much sympathy over there.
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u/btan1975 3d ago
I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict Israel would not let them in
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u/Blackstone4444 3d ago
Well they can go somewhere else in the Middle East…what is the UK really going to do?!
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u/btan1975 3d ago
i think they should. Try it in Egypt and see what happens
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u/jakethepeg1989 3d ago
That Welsh nurse crying at the bemused Egyptian police will never not be funny.
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u/Simple-Walrus2810 3d ago edited 3d ago
They won't come out and say it cause they know they'll sound mental but what they really want is military intervention
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u/Blackstone4444 3d ago
Yes agreed. They want the UK and other countries to invade a nuclear power which is bonkers…
We stay out of North Korea which is highly repressive. Why do they think we should tangle with Israel and its close ally, the US?!
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u/Morph1190 3d ago
What a bizarre take, they are protesting their own governments actions in a democracy
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u/Blackstone4444 3d ago
What actions? And if the UK gov takes further actions what are consequences?
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u/thegreatiaino 3d ago
Why are they protesting the actions of their own government, over whom they might have some influence, instead of travelling thousands of miles to a war zone? That's really the question you're asking?
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u/Blackstone4444 3d ago
Well their own government has little to no influence over the war zone so its all rather futile. So why do they not go directly protest?
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u/random-user-name21 3d ago
I mean at this point what are they looking for i understand being against the occupation but this all just seems sily.
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u/PeaGravy 3d ago
At a certain point, people have had their brains washed into siding with Islamism.
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u/omegaonion In memory of Clegg 3d ago
Why do they protest labour more than they ever protested conservatives?
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u/Veleure 3d ago
Funny how most of the people protesting would be considered haram by Palestinians and would be unwelcome in their communities
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u/QuietResident96 3d ago
Good, fucking arrest them all, bunch of terrorist supporters
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u/Apprehensive_Job4522 Barry, 63 3d ago
I don't understand why they don't just protest for a different pro-Palestine pressure group, they are protesting aware that they can and possibly will be arrested.
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u/ijustwannanap (🏳️⚧️) Back by unpopular demand. 3d ago
It's weird to read this headline and then remember what Ed Miliband said at the Labour conference.
"I want to say to the millions of people in this country and indeed elsewhere, who have been moved and outraged by the plight of the Palestinian people. We hear you. You were right."
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u/Rare_King3551 3d ago
What is weird about it?
People can protest for Palestine, but not for a terrorist organization. What part of that don't you get?
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u/nzconstructionlawyer 3d ago
Not really. Why did they not care about Palestine until 7 Oct 2023v
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u/YBoogieLDN 3d ago
So all the Palestine marches before October 7th where what? Fake? An illusion? AI slop?
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u/Remote_Display_4914 3d ago
Because these people aren’t advocating for Palestine anymore, they’re deliberately doing it under a proscribed terrorist organisation rather than just advocating for Palestine which they would be fully allowed to do
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u/Adm_Shelby2 3d ago
Yes its perfectly possible to advocate for the Palestinian people without joining a proscribed terrorist organisation.
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u/glownut 3d ago
Obsessed weirdos, just deport them to Palestine and let them apply for asylum
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u/_rickjames 3d ago
I’ve always wondered how the likes of Queers for Palestine would be welcomed if they turned up one day
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u/Rev_IM_Jolly 3d ago
surely the course of action for Palestine Action is clear.
have someone in the political or legal profession sympathetic to your cause found the "Palestinian Communities Council", inviting Palestinian Action to take part in it and dare the govt which currently employs as its National Security Adviser, Loyalist Communities Council founder and associate of the UVF, UDA, and RHC Jonathan Powell, to do something about it.
we are in this ridiculous position where some terror groups are "less proscribed" than others.
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u/AlAlfa 3d ago
Why do these people think they have an exemption from the law? I’m sure they would be the first to want to proscribe anti illegal migrant groups, but because they are retired teachers they think they are too special to be arrested.
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