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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Alasdair Ferguson

New direct action group 'Yvette Cooper' emerges following Palestine Action ban

A NEW direct-action group named after the Home Secretary has apparently emerged, as they have claimed to have targeted a transport firm which they say supplies arms to one of Israel's biggest weapons companies. 

The newly launched direct-action group, named Yvette Cooper, has allegedly targeted Time Logistics’s lorries near Birmingham with red paint. 

In a video posted on social media, the group can be seen covering lorries by the transport firm with red paint, from what appeared to be repurposed fire hoses.   

Along with the video, the group said: “If you want to ban Palestine Action, you'll have to proscribe Yvette Cooper too.” 

On Wednesday, MPs backed the UK Government’s move to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. 

The decision to proscribe the group comes after two planes were vandalised by activists from Palestine Action at RAF Brize Norton on June 20. 

(Image: Yvette Copper)

Following Wednesday's vote, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, Sacha Deshmukh, called the UK Government’s decision an “unprecedented legal overreach”. 

She added that the UK has a “deeply flawed and overly broad definition” of terrorism and that using legislation against a direct-action protest group is an “egregious abuse of what they were created for”. 

Social media for the Yvette Cooper group popped up following the announcement that Palestine Action would be proscribed. 

The group's description on social media reads: “A direct action group aimed at ending British complicity with genocide.  

“Our name is a parody, but the mission is real.” 

The proscription order does not relate solely to Palestine Action but includes three other groups: the "Maniacs Murder Cult", a Moldovan neo-Nazi group, and the Russian Imperial Movement – a far-right group aiming to rebuild the Russian Empire – and its paramilitary wing, the Russian Imperial Legion. 

The bill means that membership or support for the group will be illegal and will be punishable by up to 14 years in prison. 

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