Britain is “losing the plot” and is on course to becoming a “dictatorship” over its treatment of pro-Palestine protesters, the country has been warned, as the Labour government comes under mounting criticism over authoritarian policies used to crack down on critics of the apartheid state of Israel.
Police arrested veteran environmental campaigner Sir Jonathon Porritt outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London yesterday after he publicly declared his support for Palestine Action, which the British government proscribed as a terrorist organisation in July 2025.
The Metropolitan Police said officers arrested 117 people during the demonstration, most of them for allegedly expressing support for a proscribed organisation. Many of those detained were elderly, including an 87-year-old woman who uses a wheelchair.
Porritt, 76, is one of Britain’s most prominent environmentalists. He served as director of Friends of the Earth between 1984 and 1990, co-chaired the Green Party and led the government’s Sustainable Development Commission for nine years.
Porritt also co-founded the sustainability organisation Forum for the Future, served as chancellor of Keele University from 2012 to 2022 and advised King Charles III on environmental issues for more than 30 years. Porritt received a CBE in 2000 for services to environmental protection.
