Protest is not Terrorism

The Metropolitan Police arrested hundreds of people for holding cardboard signs with the words “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action” in Trafalgar Square on 11 April, despite the High Court ruling that the government’s ban on the direct action group is unlawful. Hundreds of officers from the Met, assisted by police from as far away as Wales hauled off protestors in handcuffs to shouts of “shame” from watching crowds.

Sean Wallis, a member of the UCU National Executive Committee, said:

They are arresting people to for an offence that doesn’t exist. Palestine Action succeeded in its challenge to the government’s proscription. So today, the Metropolitan Police are arresting people for expressing support for an organisation which should not be proscribed, according to the High Court. Consequently, the police are acting unlawfully. They are engaged in political policing and in thought policing. And that is why everyone should unite to defend the right to protest.”

Trade unionists from London Region UCU, UCL UCU, Royal College of Art UCU, Westminster UCU, Greenwich UCU, LSE UCU, Cambridge UCU, Oxford University Unison and Cambridgeshire NEU joined a witness circle of civil society organisations and social movements to show solidarity with those taking part in the action.

Jane Turner came with a delegation from Cambridge NEU. She said:

There are so many of us who feel so strongly and passionately about fighting over not only what has been going on in the genocide in Gaza, but also the clampdown on our rights to protest about it and that we are just being silenced. The law is being twisted to serve the authorities and it is just ludicrous this is going on here, it is just a farce. There are a lot of us on the Cambridgeshire committee who are very active in the Palestine movement, and obviously as trade unionists we firmly believe that we need the right to protest, to make things change for the better, that’s what a trade union does.”

What you can do:

• Pass a motion your union branch: find model motions in our resources for trade unionists guide here