Rebranding Protesters as Terrorists

The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, recently said that he was “shocked” at planned demonstrations in support of Palestine Action.

It is difficult to understand his surprise.

The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, is almost certainly going to proscribe the protest group as a terrorist organisation, the first time that a non-violent protest group has been designated in such a way.

No one, including activists themselves, would deny that their acts of vandalism meet the threshold for criminal liability across the UK, however that is part of a long tradition of non-violent protest in this country, from the Suffragettes to Just Stop Oil.

Classifying their action as terrorism and subjecting anyone who supports them to up to 14 years in prison is a Draconian step that will have a chilling effect on the right to protest and freedom of expression.

Things were meant to change under a Labour government.