They are the first people in England or Wales to be charged under anti-terrorism laws for supporting Palestine Action, though seven people have already been charged in Scotland, which has its own legal system.
A rally in support of the group is planned for Saturday and will take place in Westminster outside Parliament. Organisers have said that they expect at least 500 attendees, many of whom will hold signs reading: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
According to police, the aim of the protest is to test the enforcement of the proscription against such a large crowd and place pressure on the criminal justice system.
Palestine Action was proscribed in July after members of the organisation filmed themselves breaking into RAF Brize Norton and spraying red paint into the engines of a Royal Air Force plane. Palestine Action also vandalised the building of a Jewish-owned business, back in May, with red paint and graffiti that read ‘Happy Nakba Day’. There is no suggestion that Maclean, Murray or Shipman were involved in the break-in
Jon Pearce MP, the parliamentary chair of Labour Friends of Israel, spoke of Palestine Action’s “track record of attacks against the country’s Jewish community” during the debate on proscribing the organisation back in July.
He told the Commons: “This campaign of antisemitic harassment reveals the logical conclusion of its extremism. The important difference between it and all the other groups mentioned in the House is that it targets a specific ethnic and religious minority in our country.”
