Crowds gathered outside the UK Court of Appeal draped in keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags. Placards read: “It’s not a crime to act against genocide” and “Stop arming Israel”.
Some protesters lay on the ground, while others were carried away by police, with more than 100 arrests made.
The demonstration last week followed a Court of Appeal ruling that upheld the government’s proscription of Palestine Action, overturning an earlier High Court judgment that had found the ban unlawful.
Many will interpret the ruling as a defeat for Palestine solidarity activism. Yet its significance lies elsewhere: the controversy over Palestine Action has exposed growing cracks in the framework through which terrorism is understood in Britain.
Rather than reaffirming the legitimacy of that framework, the state’s response has revealed some of its deepest contradictions.
