Do the people being arrested for Palestine Action not know about the sledgehammer attack?

[noblegiraffe]

With 500-odd people having been arrested for expressing support for proscribed terrorist organisation Palestine Action, I'm just baffled as to why they are willing to get a criminal record which could bar them from travel to the USA and work in education for an organisation whose members attacked police officers with a sledgehammer.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/disturbing-sledgehammer-attack-police-during-9463071

Regardless of whether this group should be proscribed as a terrorist organisation, surely no one should look at that and think 'yeah, that's a group I think should be allowed to continue to do its thing, attack a few more police officers with sledgehammers, that's the hill I'm willing to die on.'

Wouldn't you think 'I'm not sure if they should be proscribed as terrorists, but given the sledgehammer attack, I'm not going to turn up with banners in support and be arrested for them, I'll just get on with protesting the genocide instead because that's a better cause'.

So do they not know about the violence? Or do they not care and are willing to support violent organisations?

(note this is not a thread for debating Gaza, I want to talk about British people who are absolutely legally allowed to protest genocide but aren't allowed to support proscribed terrorist organisations - which is also not allowed on MN).

Don't you think a bit of due diligence is warranted? The protest is because they have been designated a proscribed terrorist organisation so one might wonder exactly what they got up to and do a bit of googling before getting out the old support placard.

I mean, I googled and found it, it's not hard.

I keep up to date with the news and I hadn’t seen this. Though I would also expect anyone supporting them to do a bit of basic research

This. If PA are terrorists, then the Home Office should explain why. Mostly all we hear is the paint on the planes which, to most people, doesn’t feel on a par with other proscribed terrorist organisations.

Be that as it may, would you invite arrest to support a group who attacked police officers with a sledgehammer?

Yes I agree with you 100%. I'm baffled by others saying it's not supporting terrorism?!

That's in part because "most people' won't realise the potential consequences of spraying chemicals into the back end of jet engines (and it's also rumoured taking a crowbar to other parts of an aircraft's structure).

https://news.sky.com/story/police-make-arrests-at-protest-in-support-of-proscribed-group-palestine-action-13409027 news.sky.com/story/police-make-arrests-at-protest-in-support-of-proscribed-group-palestine-action-13409027]]]] amnesty international has something to say about the peaceful demonstrations. What a waste of police resources arresting hundreds of people with placards. Many of these people are well educated, well researched, retired people and not lawbreakers by nature, which speaks volumes.

I assume PA is like many other groups … majority peaceful and ethical with a few weirdos taking dangerous steps. It’s always the way though

I probably would, if i wanted to go on a protest, but I don’t.

PA became a proscribed terrorist organisation because of the attack on Brize earlier this year which was serious but also didn’t involve personal injury so I expect most people won’t look further back than that.

Well no, they're a proscribed terrorist organisation which means supporting them is illegal. Which these protesters knew when they decided to unveil their placards and is in fact why they unveiled their placards.

I get why people might be a bit on the fence about the Brize Norton attack, but attacking police with a sledgehammer should be a bit of a red line don't you think?

We have a lower age of criminal responsibility. The narrative around these protests seems to be that we should have an upper age too. At what age do you think people should be allowed to break the law? Retirement? 70? 80? 90? Which laws? Where would you draw the line?

If we were in a war time situation they would have been given Darwin awards.

I didn't know this had anything to do with PA!! Why isn't it mentioned in the article?
I just knew PA for breaking into Brize Norton and vandalising planes and throwing paint around etc (which to be honest us bad enough without attacking someone with a hammer.)

I hope this can be an open discussion where people can actually learn what is going on.

When pro-Palestinian protestors shout “from the river to the sea” they are referring to the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. It includes the entirety of the territory of the State of Israel (in addition to the West Bank and Gaza, which are not a part of the State of Israel). This means they want the land occupied by Israel which means the destruction of the Israeli State.

I won’t even attempt to get into their heads. These are the same people that celebrated in the streets after the invasion into Israel in 2023 and the murder of babies and their mothers and the abduction and murder of young women.

@LittlePigRobinson It is mentioned briefly in the article

"Videos shared to social media by campaign group Palestine Action showed people using tools to cut into the warehouse, damaging equipment inside the building and spraying red paint on the premises.
The direct action group says it aims to disrupt arms sales to Israel, and claims Elbit Systems UK sells equipment to the state's army.
Elbit Systems UK Limited has previously said in court it does not supply Israel with arms."

But I guess Palestine Action weren't that big a deal till Brize Norton so didn't warrant more prominence in the article.

Because people just want to go “Palestine good. Israel bad” Or the other way around. They don't want to think further than that. And they let their emotions take over their critical thinking. And, in the days of social media, you're expected to nail your colours to one flag or the other with nothing in between.

They became a particularly big deal when the Government made the stupid decision to label them a 'terrorist organisation' thereby giving them huge publicity and opening a can of worms where we now have the disgraceful sight of elderly and/or disabled people being dragged into Police vans for the crime of holding a placard.

Will they all be dealt with quickly?

https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/all-justice-best-served-swiftly
The pace of the response has been rapid. As of Sunday evening, Crown Prosecution Service lawyers had charged 474 suspects and counting. Within eight days ... three culprits had been jailed. In Plymouth, the first offenders dealt with by the courts – who had looted shops and spat at police – were charged, convicted, and jailed within 72 hours.

Sorry, I missed that 🙂

Despite they placards there’s not even a small chance of ‘river to the sea’, there is however mass genocide of Palestinians and illegally shoe horning thousands of Palestinians into tiny areas without food, medical care etc. Its important for the U.K. population to speak up and say enough is enough. The U.K. should not be supplying arms to a country killing thousands of innocent people. Women and children.

The red line should be the genocide being committed by Isreal? No?

Oct 7th was the red line. Everything following that was entirely self inflicted.

The terrorism apologists are a disgrace and deserve to be jailed.

Legally adults have capacity or don’t have capacity, sometimes they even have fluctuating capacity. People without capacity often have dementia or complex autism or extreme mental health issues. There is a formal process around identifying lack of capacity. Where there is capacity, adults are free to make their own choices and that includes making their own mistakes (in some peoples eyes). Personally I feel the elderly hold a lot of experience, wisdom and insight, although like any other generation there will always be weirdos and extremists.

Most people seem to be saying they oppose genocide.

PA are just junk, that’s all. You’ll always get inadequates who like hurting people. Look at the cause they chose.

You support attacking police officers with sledgehammers?