Some 500 people took part in the first mass protest since the group's ban was found to be unlawful

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/45812221

11 April 2026

Over 200 people have been arrested central London on Saturday at a mass demonstration opposing the UK government’s proscription of the direct action group Palestine Action.

Some 500 protesters set up camping chairs at the foot of the steps of Trafalgar Square, displaying handmade cardboard signs reading: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”

The demonstrators were met with a heavy police presence, with vans lining the square hours before the vigil began.

  • panda_abyss@lemmy.caEnglish
    16·
    8 hours ago

    I don’t understand how it’s illegal to argue for human rights.

    That’s not condoning Hamas, or bring anti semetic. Acknowledging that displacing millions of people and destroying entire countries is bad should not be this controversial. Two wings don’t make a right, it just ruins millions of lives.

    • marxismtomorrow@lemmy.todayEnglish
      6·
      5 hours ago

      Because ‘Palestine Action’ provides aid, which means they have to work with Hamas… the legitimate government organization that would be the only possible route to deliver aid since Israel keeps explicitly targeting anyone else that tries to do anything in Gaza.

      So, for the Ameriisraeli empire, of which the UK is merely a pathetic subject to, that means Palestine Action is supporting Hamas. Which because they’ve declared Hamas a terrorist organization, gives them the legal, social, and ‘moral’ pretext to demonize and arrest anyone supporting ‘Palestine Action,’ the charity supporting the people of Gaza.

      It shouldn’t be controversial to support the victims of the worst and longest genocide in human history. But doing so from an artery of the empire doing the genocide is unsurprisingly illegal and controversial. And until it affects the citizens of said empire, if it ever does, there won’t be enough movement to actually change anything.

      The best we can hope for is the continued resistance to the empire from the other 6 billion people on the planet.

      • phutatorius@lemmy.zipEnglish
        22·
        4 hours ago

        It’s a bit of a stretch to call Hamas “legitimate,” since they gained power in a coup (which Israel tolerated, if not overtly supported) against Fatah, and have suspended elections ever since. But they are the existing government in Gaza regardless, and nobody can do aid work there without engaging with them.