Protests against proscription
London witnessed extraordinary scenes this weekend: 900 people arrested while protesting against the government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action.
For many, the move is seen as an unjust silencing of a political cause. But this is not about muffling dissent. It is about recognising that the group’s actions strayed far beyond the traditions of noisy civil disobedience.
Palestine Action didn’t simply wave placards or block roads. They broke into secure facilities, targeted defence infrastructure, and deliberately sought to damage Britain’s military supply chain.
If others had done it
Here is the uncomfortable truth: if the exact same offences had been committed by a far-right network or an Islamist extremist group, the national mood would be one of uncompromising outrage.
There would be little hesitation in branding the perpetrators as extremists and ensuring they were banned. Yet because Palestine Action cloaks its cause in the language of solidarity with Palestine, too many commentators and activists look the other way.
The question is not whether one sympathises with their cause, but whether Britain should operate double standards when it comes to extremism.
Not censorship, but consequence
Proscription is not about gagging free speech. The UK has always allowed (although this is changing) space for protest, for rage, for mass mobilisation on the streets. That tradition remains untouched.
What proscription signals is that when protest mutates into sabotage – when activists break into secure bases and compromise strategic assets – the state has both the right and the duty to respond decisively. To fail to act would be to invite others, of any stripe, to believe they can cross the same lines with impunity.
Clarity, not indulgence
The mass arrests show the potency of Palestine Action’s narrative. They have successfully mobilised supporters to frame themselves as martyrs for a cause. But potency does not equate to legitimacy.
Their proscription is not weakness or censorship; it is clarity. The same rules must apply to all groups who tip into extremism, regardless of the political or moral banners they carry. Allowing Palestine Action to be treated as a special case would corrode public trust and embolden other extremists.
Palestine Action chose a path of confrontation with the state’s most sensitive assets. They are not victims of injustice, nor silenced heroes.
They are proscribed – rightly and Britain is safer and more consistent for it.
