AN MP has said she was “disturbed” to see her constituent threatened by armed police for holding a Palestinian flag.
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield told The National that Laura Murton – who was told that condemning the genocide in Gaza constituted a terrorism offence – was expressing the widespread views of the public “who are appalled by the actions of the current Israeli government”.
Murton, 42, was holding a protest on a roundabout in Canterbury, Kent, on Monday and was approached by police officers who threatened her with arrest.
She filmed the encounter, during which she was told by an officer: “Mentioning freedom of Gaza, Israel, genocide, all of that all come under proscribed groups, which are terror groups that have been dictated by the Government.”
Duffield said: “I am disturbed to see this apparently peaceful protester told that she cannot express her lawfully held and legitimate political views. As far as I can tell, there was no overt support for any proscribed groups. It appears that Kent Police may have got their wires crossed on this occasion.
“The views expressed in this case are held by many of my constituents, who are appalled by the actions of the current Israeli government and the horrendous impact it is having on innocent civilians in Gaza.”
Murton told The Guardian she had not expressed support for the banned group Palestine Action and had given police no indication she was a supporter.
She said: “I don’t see how anything I was wearing, how anything I was displaying, anything I was saying, could be deemed as supportive of the proscribed group.
“It’s terrifying, I was standing there thinking, this is the most [...] authoritarian, dystopian experience I’ve had in this country, being told that I’m committing terrorist offences by two guys with firearms.
“I ended up giving my details, and I really resent the fact I had to do that because I don’t think that was lawful at all.”
A Kent Police spokesperson previously told The Guardian: “Under the Terrorism Act it is a criminal offence to carry or display items that may arouse reasonable suspicion that an individual is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation such as Palestine Action.”
Palestine Action became the first direct action group in British history to be banned under terror laws earlier this month for a raid on RAF Brize Norton where they spraypainted and damaged jet planes.
The group’s lawyers, during an unsuccessful bid to prevent the proscription order, warned that the ban would have a “wide chilling effect on speech and assembly of those seeking to speak out against Israel’s serious violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian territory”.
After being contacted by The National, Kent Police said: "Following the behaviour of an individual on a traffic roundabout in Canterbury on Monday, July 14, 2025, officers attended to investigate. Having ascertained no offences had been committed, no further action was taken.”
Kent Police later said officers attended “following a complaint about the behaviour of an individual” and declined to respond to Duffield's comments.
