Palestine Action is “violent” and has committed “significant injury” as well as criminal damage, Downing Street has said after hundreds of arrests were made at a protest linked to the group.
No 10 defended the move to ban the organisation under counter-terror laws, saying evidence and security assessments shared in closed court supported its proscription.
Scotland Yard has said some 522 people were held over the weekend on suspicion of displaying an item in support of a proscribed group, out of the total 532 arrests during the policing operation at a march in central London.
Palestine Action said Downing Street’s accusations were “false and defamatory” and “disproven by the Government’s own intelligence assessment”.
The Government has said “many people may not yet know the reality of this organisation” as the full details of the proscription process cannot be shared for national security reasons.
Asked on Monday whether ministers were reconsidering the decision to designate the group as a terrorist organisation following mass arrests on Saturday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “No.
“Palestine Action was proscribed based on strong security advice following serious attacks the group has committed involving violence, significant injury and extensive criminal damage.”
Downing Street said the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre – an independent authority based within MI5 – had found the organisation had carried out three separate acts of terrorism.
“We’ve said that many people may not yet know the reality of this organisation, but the assessments are very clear: this is a violent organisation that has committed violence, significant injury and extensive criminal damage,” Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said.
Speaking to broadcasters earlier on Monday, justice minister Alex Davies-Jones said supporters of the group would face “the full force of the law”.
“We have credible reports of them targeting Jewish-owned businesses here in the United Kingdom, and there are other reasons, which we can’t disclose because of national security,” she told BBC Breakfast.
Meanwhile, officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command will be working over the coming weeks to put together case files in relation to arrests made at a protest in London in Saturday, the force has said.
The demonstration was held in Parliament Square on Saturday, organised by Defend Our Juries, with the Metropolitan Police warning it would detain anyone expressing support for Palestine Action.
The majority of those arrested, 348, were aged 50 or over, according to a breakdown published by the Met on Sunday.
Detained protesters were taken to prisoner processing points in the Westminster area.
Those whose details could be confirmed were released on bail to appear at a police station at a future date.
There were a further 10 arrests, six for assaults on officers, two for breaching Public Order Act conditions, one arrest for obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty, and one for a racially aggravated public order offence, the force said.
Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori said: “Yvette Cooper and No 10’s claim that Palestine Action is a violent organisation is false and defamatory, and even disproven by the Government’s own intelligence assessment of Palestine Action’s activities and the Home Office spokesperson’s statement outside court just a few weeks ago.”
Ms Ammori said it was revealed in court – during her ongoing legal challenge to the ban – that the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre’s assessment acknowledged that the group does not advocate for violence against persons and the majority of its activities would not be classified as terrorism.
“Spraying red paint on war planes is not terrorism. Disrupting Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems by trespassing on their sites in Britain is not terrorism,” she said.
“It is the Israeli Defence Force and all those who arm and enable their war crimes who are the terrorists.”
She claimed the reason the Government has banned the group is “because they capitulated to the Israeli embassy, arms manufacturers and pro-Israeli groups who lobbied them to ban us”.
