Palestine Action ban and the right to protest | Letters
Readers respond to the decision by the court of appeal to uphold the British government’s ban on the movementI am responding to George Monbiot’s excellent article describing government bias in...
By Guardian Staff · The Guardian Opinion
Readers respond to the decision by the court of appeal to uphold the British government’s ban on the movement I am responding to George Monbiot’s excellent article describing government bias in the attribution of terrorism to disruptive action ( The Belfast riots, Palestine Action protests. What is terrorism now – and why the hypocrisy?, 17 June ). I take issue with one sentence: “The former home secretary Yvette Cooper decided to ban the group after some of its members spray-painted two warplanes.” This simplifies the decision process, and the ban may have involved other factors. In early March 2025, Palestine Action spray painted “Gaza Is Not 4 Sale” on a green at Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course, as well as daubing a building with red paint. At the end of March, Trump said, in a post on his Truth Social platform : “I was just informed by Prime Minister Starmer of the United Kingdom that they caught the terrorists who attacked the beautiful Turnberry, in Scotland.” Trump called for them to be “treated harshly”. We know Starmer was eager to please Trump, which may have included the promise to spend more on defence, the initial defunding of Unrwa and reductions in international aid. Continue reading...