UK police arrested five members of the NGO Defend Our Juries, which has been campaigning against the British government’s ban of another NGO, Palestine Action, as a “terrorist group.”
London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed three men and two women, ranging between the ages of 26 and 61, had been detained “on suspicion of encouraging support for a proscribed organization” in London and the counties of Cumbria and Yorkshire.
Defend Our Juries has organized several protests against the Palestine Action ban, leading to hundreds of arrests under anti-terror laws.
The campaigners had been due to hold an online press conference Tuesday ahead of another “Lift the Ban” protest in the British capital this weekend, but postponed the briefing after what they called the “dystopian crackdown”.
“Counter-terrorism police arrested five of Defend Our Juries’ key spokespeople in dawn raids in London this morning over Lift the Ban protests,” it said in a statement.
“This is scandalous,” a spokesperson added, calling it “an unprecedented assault on free speech in our country.”
“This level of political repression is not what we expect in a democracy. It’s the kind of tactic typically associated with authoritarian regimes around the world,” the spokesperson added.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said the arrests were “part of a proactive investigation” led by its counter-terrorism unit which put a stop to “activity linked to” Palestine Action.
“Those showing support for this particular group, or encouraging others to do so, can expect to be arrested, investigated and prosecuted,” Chief Superintendent Helen Flanagan said.
The arrests were made under the 2000 Terrorism Act, which the government used to define Palestine Action.
UK Interior Minister Yvette Cooper accuses Palestine Action of conducting “aggressive and intimidatory attacks against businesses, institutions and the public.”
The group was outlawed after the it took responsibility for breaking into a Royal Air Force base in June and spraying two aircraft with red paint, causing an estimated £7 million ($10 million) in damage.
Palestine Action said its activists were protesting British arm sales to Israel, deployed during the war in Gaza.
Critics of the UK government over its decision to determine Palestine Action as a terrorist group include the United Nations and groups such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace.
