DOZENS of people have been arrested for allegedly supporting Palestine Action at a demonstration outside Woolwich Crown Court where four people are being sentenced for a raid on an Israel-based defence firm’s UK factory.
The Met Police said 72 activists have been detained in total on suspicion of supporting the proscribed group, despite the proscription having been ruled unlawful.
Four Palestine Action activists are to be sentenced on Friday for destroying equipment at an Israel-based defence firm’s UK factory in a raid which left a police officer with a fractured spine. The raid took place before the group was proscribed as a terrorist organisation.
Police vans arrived outside the court to ferry demonstrators away after the first person was arrested at about 1.20pm.
As each protester was carried away with one officer holding each limb, crowds applauded while others berated the officers.
Some of the chants included “you’re complicit in genocide” and “Met police, shame, shame, all the crimes in your name”.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “A number of arrests have been made during a protest in south east London.
“Seventy-two people have been arrested for supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation – Palestine Action – at a demonstration outside Woolwich Crown Court.
“All are currently in police custody.”
Charlotte Head, 23, Samuel Corner, 30, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Rajwani, 21, were in an old prison van which crashed into the Elbit Systems site near Bristol in the early hours of August 6 2024.
The activists, all wearing red boilersuits, caused an estimated £1 million in damage, after destroying computers, drones, and other equipment with sledgehammers and crowbars they had taken with them.
Corner, a former student at Oxford, hit Sergeant Kate Evans on the back twice with a sledgehammer during efforts by police and Elbit security to stop the destruction.
The four defendants spent about 18 months in custody after the raid on August 6 2024. They were freed on bail in February, but returned to prison after being found guilty of criminal damage by a jury in early May.
On Friday, Mr Justice Johnson will pass sentence on the activists at Woolwich Crown Court, and he will also sentence Corner for causing grievous bodily harm over the attack on Evans.
Following the Elbit raid, the UK Government proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, in a decision the High Court has now ruled was unlawful.
Court of Appeal judges are to decide on Monday whether to uphold the High Court ruling.
