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).

i doubt they went on a protest thinking they would be arrested tbh

Not when they say “we support Palestine Action” they aren’t.

Then they are deliberately expressing support for a proscribed terrorist organisation which is an entirely different protest.

The UN didn’t mention violence and injuring people in that statement so I’m not convinced they’re fully aware. That or they are being dishonest, which isn’t great.

I guess not, if they can't read...?

I don’t blindly put my trust in the Government
One only has to remember the Brexit lies to know doing that blindly is unwise
They simply want to shut down free speech. We see that as policy with Angela Raynor.
This is just the beginning. Such a shame people don’t see through that

They did, it was the point of the protest. They wanted to overwhelm the police with the number of arrests needed to be made, it was all planned.

Not such a big deal that they bother with adequate security though.

I’m sure they knew the potential for arrest @taxidriverthat’s what has become of this country

and as pensioners they’ve played a blinder. It’s not like it’s going to affect their employability. I’m sure they don’t care. One last stand to save this country from Big Brother.

Yes, gotta fight for the right to assault people with sledgehammers.

Anyone supposedly surprised at how easily the protestors got onto Brize simply hasn't been paying attention to Defence spending over the last three decades plus.....

If you want 24/7 airfield perimeter or even just airfield apron guarding you need a much bigger RAF than we have now...that costs and HMG and you, the voter, have decided taxpayers money must go elsewhere.

Deliberately damaging aircraft and some of their sub-systems can in some circumstances have lethal consequences, so the HMG response isn't simply down to red faces at MOD, someone feels an example probably needs to be set (and the accused should probably thank their lucky stars the Aviation Security Act hasn't been brought into play).

Have to also say I'm surprised at that the tone of some responses that are almost hinting that MOD/RAF "were asking for it"..not a good look.

No, it doesn’t occur to me for that to be the case here any more than it occurs to me that the reason the police haven’t released the CCTV in the latest Tommy Robinson case is because they’re hiding his innocence, rather than because it’s part of an ongoing investigation.

We have strict laws around discussing ongoing cases in order not to prejudice them and rightly so.

There are plenty of ways to support Palestine than without referencing this specific group.

Unfortunately I think PA are playing the "oppressed" card just as Hamas did immediately after 7 Oct, and it's worked really well.

What was the plane going to be used for? Why did they attack it?

Noble. I’ve already posted the charges against PA. You know that they didn’t assault anyone with sledgehammers or they would have been charged with doing so. The Bristol article you posted is not correct
Its lies

Probably one of three things, shifting freight (which could have been aid) shifting people or refuelling RAF aircraft either involved in policing UK airspace or for example operating supporting Ukraine.

What it wasn't was an intelligence gathering aircraft and what it couldn't do was refuel Israeli (or for that matter USAF) aircraft.

I wonder if the PA heroes were aware of any of that or even cared.

An organisation that many people of widely differing political opinions have publicly stated should never have been prescribed as such. Murdoch’s Times has even opined that it was a mistake.
Government appears to have made the impossible, possible and brought together left, right and centre.
Big mistake, playing into the hands of Farage, Tice and their baying hounds.

judge allowing PA to challenge home office

If so, Government was incredibly short-sighted falling for it. There will probably be double the number next weekend.

Surely it is relevant to consider what the intention was behind the incident in the Op... If their (PA) plan was to use violence against people in order to influence the decisions of a government, I can see how that can be defined as terrorism.

If the intention of the group was to destroy property, but when stopped by police, some individuals within the group were violent in response to that, I don't see why that in itself constitutes terrorism.

I think it is reasonable for people to have concerns at how laws are used to control what people can and can't do.

This is an interesting article which expresses it better than I can.

https://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/centre-for-the-study-of-corruption/2025/08/08/why-it-matters-whether-palestine-action-are-really-terrorists/

Destroying property is criminal damage, not terrorism. As it was at Greenham Common.

Why is it so desperately urgent to reinstate an organisation under suspicion of being a terrorist group? They have challenged it, the UN has criticised the decision, so what? Things will eventually come out in the wash, and in the meantime I hope the UK government's priority is to protect our national security rather than pander to fashion.

There are plenty of ways to "support Palestine" without engaging with this bunch of rascals 😊 much less martyring yourself to their cause.

Demanding and demonstrating against evidence-based decisions serves only to underline the victim/oppressor narrative that groups like PA and Hamas have twisted very successfully to suit their purposes.

And I cut and pasted the bit from your report that showed the charges that back up the news report. "Violent disorder, grievous bodily harm with intent, two counts of actual bodily harm, and aggravated burglary using a sledgehammer as an offensive weapon"

Aggravated burglary is burglary with violence or the threat of violence, an offensive weapon is anything carried which is adapted or intended to cause injury to someone. This guy was charged with carrying a sledgehammer as an offensive weapon and causing grievous bodily harm and actual bodily harm.

What part of that suggests that the original report of police officers being injured with a sledgehammer was incorrect?

Acc to the Guardian (article about a hour ago) the govt spokesperson said they cause £7m damage. I find it hard to understand how that can be achieved without some level of violence? Clearly more than slinging a bit of paint was involved - so I suspect more occurred but has not been shared because the legal case/investigation is ongoing.

I fully accept that we should not take everything the government (this one, the last one, the next one) says at face value, but the idea that we should treat absolutely everything as lies and misinformation is the route to anarchy. This conspiracy/misinformation shit needs to stop before we end up with real riots on the streets.

Well yes, Palestine Action won the right to appeal the decision in court. Why bother inviting arrest for a violent group before the process has been followed?

“Fashion”, “rascals”? Behave yourself.

These people are protesting with utmost conviction against a policy of the deliberate starvation of millions by one of the most powerful states on this planet.