MPs vote to proscribe Palestine Action as terrorist group

MPs have voted in favour of legislation to proscribe group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, passing by 385 votes to 26.

The order, which amends the Terrorism Act 2000, is now expected to be signed by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and come into effect later this week.

Once in effect, supporting Palestine Action will become a criminal offence, with membership or expressing support for the direct action group punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

However, legal action is under way to try to temporarily block the order, with a hearing scheduled to take place on Friday at London’s High Court.

Palestine Action has been granted the hearing pending further proceedings to decide whether a legal challenge can be brought.

Alongside Palestine Action, the order also proscribes Maniacs Murder Cult, a white supremacist, neo-Nazi organisation and the Russian Imperial Movement, a white supremacist, ethno-nationalist organisation.

Following the vote by MPs, four people were arrested in a protest organised by Palestine Action outside Westminster.

These included one man who the Met Police said had “blocked the gates of Downing Street with his mobility scooter”, and a woman who attempted to lock herself to an entrance of the parliamentary estate.

Police said they were arrested for a breach of Public Order Act conditions which were put in place to “prevent serious disruption”, confining the protest to an area off Whitehall, and allowing it to take place between 18:00 and 20:00 BST.

The move to proscribe Palestine Action was taken after activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire last month and sprayed two planes with red paint, an incident branded “disgraceful” by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The government says Palestine Action meets the criteria for terrorism, which is the use or threat of serious violence, or serious damage to property, in a manner that is designed to influence any government or intimidate the public in order to advance a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.

In a statement after the vote, Palestine Action said the home secretary had “bundled our domestic civil disobedience protest group in with two violent, neo-Nazi militias”.

“Many MPs told us that as a consequence they felt they did not have the option to vote against the measure,” it said.

The group added it was “confident that this unlawful order will be overturned”.

Presenting the order to the House of Commons, Minister of State for Security Dan Jarvis said the public attention the group has garnered “should not be confused with legitimacy”.

He said the group had carried out “atrocious acts” which had increased in “frequency and severity” in recent times.

“Its targets have broadened to include financial firms, charities, universities, and government buildings,” he said.

“Its methods have become more aggressive with its members demonstrating a willingness to use violence.”

Expressing support for the government’s move, Conservative MP Harriet Cross said the groups facing proscription have “nothing whatsoever to do with legitimate protest”.

“They would not be facing proscription today if they were demonstrating peacefully, respectfully, or legally,” she said.

But a number of Labour backbenchers questioned the action and whether it would not be more proportionate for the group to be dealt with through criminal legislation.

In total, 10 Labour MPs, including one teller, voted against the government.

One of them, Labour MP Clive Lewis, said there was “a long history in this country of direct action which pushes the boundaries of our democracy” and this was “still direct action… not terrorist action”.

His party colleague Richard Burgon said the legislation risked “criminalising thousands of volunteers and supporters” – and pointed out a large number of people had been associated with the group in this capacity, including “students, nurses, retirees and professionals”.

The proscription order will now go before the Lords on Thursday where it is likely to pass.

Reacting to the vote, the head of Human Rights Watch in the UK, Yasmine Ahmed, said proscribing Palestine Action was “a grave abuse of state power and a terrifying escalation in this government’s crusade to curtail protest rights”.

“We expect this of authoritarian regimes like Russia or China, not a country like the UK that professes to believe in democratic freedoms,” she added.

Palestine Action has engaged in activities that have predominantly targeted arms companies since the start of the current war in Gaza.

Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Since then, 56,500 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.