A PRO-PALESTINE protester who was arrested during a demonstration for holding a sign calling for an end to Israel’s genocide has said he will continue to stand up for his rights and freedom of speech.
Veteran protester Sean Clerkin was arrested and charged under the Terrorism Act after he displayed a sign which read “Genocide in Palestine, Time to Take Action” with the words “[[Palestine]]” and “Action” enhanced at a demonstration in Glasgow city centre on Friday.
The direct-action group Palestine Action was recently named a proscribed organisation in the UK, and it is a criminal offence to show support for the group.
Speaking to The National, Clerkin recalled the fear he felt when he was held in a cell for around three hours after he was arrested for displaying a sign expressing support for a proscribed organisation.
“The most disturbing part of being on your own in a cell is you have no control over anything, and you're at their control,” he said.
Clerkin added that despite being scared that police may raid his home while he was detained, he reminded himself why he decided to protest, for all the children, women, and men in Gaza who are risking their lives daily for food and are enduring extreme suffering at the hands of Israel’s military.
“Being held in a police cell is nothing like what they're suffering,” he said.
The 64-year-old said he believes that it is an enormous waste of taxpayer money arresting protesters holding up signs and that police resources would be better spent on tackling “real crimes”.
If found guilty, Clerkin, who has now been banned from entering the city centre of Glasgow until his court hearing on October 7, which he believes is more than just a coincidence, could face a £10,000 fine, a minimum jail sentence of six months with a maximum of 14 years.
Earlier last week, 46 other protesters were arrested at a demonstration against Palestine Action being designated a proscribed terror group in central London.
Despite knowing the risks that his actions could land him in jail, Clerkin decided standing up for his civil rights and showing solidarity with the people in Gaza was worth the risk.
“This is how this is,” he said.
“This is now Keir Starmer’s Britain, where law-abiding citizens who show our conscience, who show that we care for our fellow human beings, are being arrested and jailed.
“That shows we're losing our civil liberties, freedom of association, freedom to protest, freedom of speech.
“These are now being eradicated, and we've got to stand up and fight for these rights.”
Clerkin added that he held the sign because of his own conscience and because of his faith as a Christian.
“I believe in the sanctity of human life, and I'm a non-violent protester, always have been, but I do believe in direct action.
“I felt like I had to take stronger action as an act of conscience, and I believe what I did was morally the right thing to do.
“It was an act of conscience, even for the people of Palestine to show solidarity with them and their suffering.”
During the same day Clerkin was arrested, an Israeli military chief who had overseen the slaughter of thousands of Palestinians visited the UK.
Major General Tomer Bar (below), the head of the Israeli Air Force, reportedly attended a conference hosted by the Royal Air Force in Gloucester where he held a series of meetings with air force commanders.
When asked what he thought about the fact he was arrested for holding a sign showing support for Palestine on the same day Bar was hosted by RAF in the UK, Clerkin said: “He is being invited as a guest of the British Government which means the British Government, the Labor Government, support genocide in Palestine by the Israelis.
“He should have been arrested as soon as he stepped on UK soil and taken into custody and handed over to the ICC at The Hague as an international war criminal."
He added: “The fact that he was hidden in secret and brought in here, and he has committed crimes against humanity, shows that the British Government are complicit in crimes of genocide, crime the crime of genocide, crime against humanity.”
Clerkin’s anger was not just reserved for the UK Government, and he was also immensely disappointed with the SNP as their MPs “sat on their backsides and abstained” during the vote to proscribe [[Palestine]] Action.
On Sunday, The National, along with The Ferret, revealed the minutes from the Scottish Government Minister Angus Robertson's secret meeting with Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK, Daniela Grudsky.
It was revealed that the [[Scottish Government]] tried to set up an earlier meeting with John Swinney and the ambassador and was talking itself up as a “critical friend” of Israel.
Clerkin said the Scottish Government should follow the Irish government and be in “complete unison with Palestine” and support a Palestinian state.
“Surely the SNP could have done the same instead of sitting on the sidelines,” Clerkin said.
He added that the [[SNP]] MPs who abstained in the [[Palestine]] Action debate could have done more and voted with the independent MPs, like Jeremy Corbyn, against proscribing them as a terrorist organisation.
“I just know that the [[SNP]] leadership at Westminster and in Edinburgh is devoid of a spine.
“They're spineless. They're spineless chickens.”
A veteran activist, Clerkin is best known for being the person who made the complaint to Police Scotland which led to Operation Branchform, a probe into the finances of the [[SNP]] which led to the arrests of Peter Murrell, Nicola Sturgeon, and Colin Beattie in 2023.
Clerkin believes the proscription of Palestine Action has set a dangerous precedent and thinks the UK Government could go after peaceful protest groups like Extinction Rebellion next.
“It's a slippery slope to an authoritarian British state where there is no democracy,” he said.
“That's where we're sliding to, and it's a very, very bad day when this is happening.”
Speaking about how he feels about his upcoming trial, Clerkin said: “At the current time, I'm not anxious about it, I'm more anxious about what happens to the people in Palestine.”
