Terrorism charges

They’re not protesting against genocide though. Tens of thousands of people protest against Israel every week perfect freely.

What they cannot do is support an organisation that puts military equipment out of use and attacks police with sledgehammers.

Just wondered.Can terrorist related charges be dealt with at Magistrates court or do they have to go to Crown Court due to Mags having limited sentencing power?

Sky news reporting that almost 500 arrests have been made at today's protest. Have they charged anyone from previous protests yet or are they just clogging up the courts?.

No. I believe that there should be due process. I believe law should be sober and calm and unbiased. It should be based on the greatest happiness for the greatest number, while respecting the rights of the few. It should be based on science and data.

And yes, I do believe that if the law is an ass, which it often is in many places and times, it is the job of the populace to, peacefully if possible, resist it. Not anarchy, pretty much the opposite.

Do you believe that slavish adherence to the law, however unjust, is right? You’re the Vichy government. Not the Résistance.

I mentioned one. In the past but I did. Maybe froth less and think more.

The ANC, the ones led by Nelson Mandela. Yes, that Nelson Mandela. With the Nobel Peace Prize.

Slavish agreement with the powers that be is foolish. Our job as citizens is to take democracy seriously, engage with it, let our elected leaders know their power is borrowed, not absolute.

’It’s the law’ isn’t the flex you think it is. Many bad things are legal and many things are illegal that shouldn’t be.

Well I think you are perfectly highlighting here why it was an insane political decision to proscribe them.

I’m wondering too, if someone can say why PA is crucial enough to risk arrest

No one is under any threat whatsoever from these people.
The proscription is an absurdity.
YABVU

If it was a proscribed organisation, yes.

It's pretty straightforward to support a cause without supporting a terrorist group that happens to support the same cause.

I totally agree with you.

OK so would you have had me arrested for supporting the ANC/Nelson Mandela?

They're not sitting with a sign protesting for free speech against genocide though. They are protesting in support of a violent terrorist organisation.

Genuine question. What have Palestine Action actually done that warrants people supporting them and risking their liberty. Have they affected any change in policy or made the situation less catastrophic for those in Palestine. Have they got any strategic aims that we can risk a criminal record to support. Raising awareness about the plight of those in Palestine doesn't count as we are all aware of their plight, we see it every day. Has any of their direct action achieved anything. I would be interested to hear rationale from those that support them. There are plenty of organisations you can support that will not put you at risk of Prison.

I assume these posters would have wanted the protesters outside the South African embassy in London arrested during apartheid.

They will face the consequences. That’s the point.

For the hard of thinking and the Russian bots in this thread: Those protesting in support of Palestine Action are fully aware of the law and the consequences of breaking it. The point of the protest is to highlight the proscription for what it is, a perverse law made by a government that is complicit in a genocide.

Nelson Mandela and the ANC were as well. For probably better reasons than PA.

Eh! I’m not sure they are the benefit type!

Palestine Action is a proscribed organisation. That is a fact known to all those participating in the protest and choosing to hold banners. They have chosen to break the law and should now face the consequences.

What difference does it make to you? The protesters know this might be the outcome and they do it anyway because they believe in the cause. So, froth at the mouth about something else, I guess.

I marched against the Criminal Justice Bill decades ago. For the right to protest, to free assembly, to the right to silence.

It’s not that vicars should be exempt. It’s that the law of the land should not be used to punish silence peaceful people who are not acting in a way that is against us, the citizens. Using the law as a hammer makes it wrong.

People who donate money to ISIS? By all means arrest them. People who sit holding a sign as protest for free speech and against genocide, don’t. Even if you don’t agree with them, that’s what they are doing.

The head of Palestine Action was also prominent (may have been head there too) in Extinction Rebellion.

He is an exhibitionist and trouble-maker and merely head of rent-a-mob.

I sincerely wish the stocks was still a punishment.

Some of the Palestine Action members are violent anarchists who have attacked the police and have been found to have weapons. I would remove their benefits for a start.

OP, how would people being unable to find employment benefit any of us?