Dozens of international scholars have urged the Labour Government to reverse the prescription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.
Public intellectuals from around the world have signed an open letter calling on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to reverse the ban.
Signatories of the letter published in The Guardian include the Canadian author Naomi Klein, American philosopher Angela Davis and Pakistani-British activist Tariq Ali.
The letter applauds what it describes as a “growing campaign of collective defiance” against the ban approved by Parliament last month.
It also commends activists who plan to risk arrest by declaring their support for Palestine Action in central London this weekend.
Defend Our Juries are organising a march from Russell Square to Downing Street on Saturday, where participants have been asked to hold signs saying: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
The Metropolitan Police has warned that officers will be required to arrest any demonstrators contravening terrorism laws.
In July, MPs voted to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, meaning support for the group is now a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Palestine Action’s website has also been blocked in the UK after a last-minute legal challenge to suspend the group’s proscription failed.
It comes after two Palestine Action activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and sprayed two military planes with red paint.
Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, has urged members of the public to stay away from events supporting proscribed organisations.
She added: “There’s a difference between that and supporting a proscribed terror organisation that wishes harm on the British people.”
But the letter by Klein, Davis, Ali and 49 others states: “As scholars dedicated to questions of justice and ethics we believe that Yvette Cooper’s recent proscription of Palestine Action represents an attack both on the entire pro-Palestine movement and on fundamental freedoms of expression, association, assembly and protest.”
It adds: “As hundreds of people again risk arrest by joining street protests on 9 August and as students and teachers prepare for the start of another turbulent academic year, we express our full solidarity with those mobilising on their campuses or in their workplaces and communities to put an immediate stop to the escalating genocide and to end all UK complicity with Israel’s crimes.”
A separate letter signed by 300 Jewish figures, including the director Mike Leigh and the poet Michael Rosen, described the ban as “illegitimate and unethical”.
