The UK’s home secretary has decided to proscribe Palestine Action and will lay an order before Parliament next week to make membership and support for the protest group illegal. Yvette Cooper confirmed the move after Palestine Action vandalised two planes inside RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Friday. Report by Jonesia. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
00:00Pro-Palestine protests against Israeli actions in Gaza have become a common sight on the streets of central London.
00:10But if the Home Secretary gets her way, this demonstration today could be the last legal gathering of the protest group Palestine Action.
00:19Yvette Cooper has decided to proscribe the organisation and will lay an order before Parliament next week.
00:26If passed, it would see membership of and support for the group banned under UK terror laws, putting it on a par with Hamas, Al-Qaeda, National Action and the Wagner Group.
00:38The move comes after Palestine Action vandalised two planes inside RAF Brice Norton in Oxfordshire on Friday, to the cost of millions of pounds.
00:48Their behaviours in the last few weeks, and particularly in the last few days, are totally unacceptable.
00:54To cause damage to military assets, but also to cause such damage to privately owned assets is unacceptable, whatever your views are about what's happening in the Middle East.
01:06Palestine Action's planned protest in Trafalgar Square today prompted this statement from Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley on Saturday.
01:14I'm sure many people will be as shocked and frustrated as I am to see a protest taking place tomorrow in support of Palestine Action.
01:22This is an organised extremist criminal group whose prescription as terrorists is being actively considered.
01:28Members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer,
01:35and last week claimed responsibility for breaking into an airbase and damaging aircraft.
01:44Protesters have clashed with police at today's demonstration, with several people arrested.
01:49However, the organisers of today's demonstration say that protests like these aren't enough to bring about change.
01:57For the last 20 months we've seen unspeakable crimes unfolding,
02:01and boycotts and marches haven't been enough to stop it.
02:05But direct action works, and whether Palestine action is prescribed or not,
02:11people will continue to take direct action to stop this genocide,
02:15especially when the government fails to live up to its responsibilities.
02:20Palestine action has staged a series of demonstrations in recent months,
02:24including vandalising US President Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire in March.
02:30The human rights organisation Liberty has raised concerns over the government's decision to prescribe the group.
02:36It's a significant shift in how the government responds to direct action,
02:41and we believe that it's actually the first time that counter-terror measures have been used in this way
02:47against groups who are committing criminal damage to property rather than harming individuals.
02:53We believe that the proportionality test has not been met in this decision.
02:58People will have differing opinions on whether Palestine action's conduct constitutes terrorism or simply a public nuisance,
