WESTMINSTER has been branded “broken” as MPs celebrated the Suffragettes on the same day as voting to ban a protest group under terrorism laws.
Female MPs posed for a photograph in Westminster Hall on Wednesday bearing sashes with the colours of the Women’s Social and Political Union, a group which used militant tactics including bombing Westminster Abbey in their quest to win votes for women.
The photograph featured top politicians including Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Deputy Speaker Caroline Noakes, and Home Office Minister Angela Eagle.
It came on the same day that Palestine Action was proscribed under the Terrorism Act for their campaign to put pressure on the UK Government and private companies for complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Independent MP Zarah Sultana (below), currently suspended from Labour, posted the picture to social media, saying it was “Parliament in a nutshell”.
She added: “Yesterday MPs, including Yvette Cooper, celebrated the suffragette legacy of civil disobedience that won women the right to vote. Only to then vote to designate non-violent direct action group Palestine Action as terrorists.
"Westminster is broken.”
MPs voted to ban Palestine Action by 385 votes to 26, with the Greens, Independent Alliance MPs, and nine Labour MPs voting against. The SNP and the LibDems abstained.
It means that it will become a criminal offence to express support for or be a member of Palestine Action, carrying a prison sentence of up to 14 years in jail.
Wearing clothing which expresses support of the group, such as T-shirts with the group’s branding, can result in a six-month prison sentence and/or a fine of up to £5000.
Others called out MPs for expressing their support for the Suffragettes, who were persecuted in their own time for their campaign to win votes for women.
Green co-leader Carla Denyer (above) said: “Today women MPs wore Suffragette sashes to celebrate Votes for Women – won by civil disobedience and celebrated in Parliament's gift shop.
“And yet now the government is asking us to vote to proscribe Palestine Action – a modern civil disobedience group – as terrorists.”
Novara Media editor Aaron Bastani added: “The Suffragettes literally blew up David Lloyd George’s house, as it was under construction, in Surrey.
“The same politicians now celebrating that think you should get six months in prison for wearing a Palestine Action t-shirt.”
