Like many, my heart has been broken by what is happening in Palestine. I have felt helpless and hopeless, but refuse to believe that there is nothing we can do.
I’ve seen and shared the stories, images and videos coming out of Gaza – the horrific, endless and systematic destruction of people and place. Children, health workers, journalists, ordinary families and individuals – there are no limits to who they will kill. There is no shame. And there are no consequences.
Consequences are only for those who try to stop genocide, apparently.
Palestine Action, a non-violent protest group, has been designated as a terrorist organisation for just that reason – they have disrupted the highly profitable war machine. Palestine Action wouldn’t even have existed here if our government wasn’t assisting in the systematic obliteration of the Palestinian people.
Up until now, I’ve posted, I’ve donated, I’ve boycotted, I’ve talked to friends and family, I’ve cried and raged. What is left to do? Nothing alone, perhaps. But collectively? Collectively there is hope.
Taking part in the Defend Our Juries ‘Lift the Ban’ protest in Parliament Square on Saturday 9 August confirmed this to me. The sense of solidarity, the power in organising together to stand up for our democracy and for those who suffer. This is the way to make real change happen.
At times, I’d struggled with the decision to take part, knowing what it might mean for my life. But as a 43-year-old white middle-class woman, I have a lot of privilege that has brought me that life. If I stay silent to protect those privileges, I am no better than the billionaires who hoard their unearned wealth while so many live in abject poverty.
Are you proud?
As I sit down and write my sign – which reads ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,’ I am clear-headed, eyes wide open to what I am doing, why, and the potential consequences. That’s not to say it wasn’t nerve-wracking, but any anxiety that bubbled up could be swiftly dispelled by feeling certain that I was doing right thing.
Hundreds of us, united in purpose, sit quietly with our signs – newly created ‘terrorists’.
The woman next to me is also here alone and is nervous, so we do a bit of breathing together. As time passes, water and food and sunscreen are passed around. This is no unruly mob – this is a gathering of caring, peaceful people who feel they have no alternative.
The police start from the outside, reading people their rights and taking them to the countless vans that sit around the outside of the square. Some arrestees walk, but many are lifted – four or five officers clumsily hauling mostly elderly bodies. While the sign holders sit quietly, supporters around us shout ‘Shame!’ at the officers and ask them questions. “Are you proud? Is this what you signed up for? Do you think this is right? How would you feel if that was your grandma?” I don’t hear any officers respond.
I’m sitting near the middle of the square and so it takes several hours for the police to reach me.
Sometime after 4pm, the tap on my shoulder arrives. A Welsh voice tells me I’m under arrest for breaching section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000. My sign is taken, I’m flanked by officers and marched firmly through the crowd to a van. The following hours involve a lot of waiting around, and some moments of pure absurdity – not least an officer reading aloud all the ingredients in a packet of Percy Pigs.
I eventually find myself in a cell in Croydon custody suite, where I am detained overnight. At 5am, my photos, DNA and fingerprints are taken. I’m released at 11.30am on Sunday, bailed until October.
In all, 522 ‘terrorists’ were arrested that day, more than double the national total from the whole of 2024. And there are around 200 more who were arrested for similar actions prior to 9 August.
How many terrorists does the government want to create? Defend Our Juries are already planning their next protest on 6 September, where they aim to get at least 1,000 people.
Shifting sands
What will happen next is far from clear. While the government appears to be doubling down and starting to charge people in an attempt to intimidate protesters, many experts and organisations are challenging their actions.
The UN Human Rights Chief, Volker Turk, has said the ban on Palestine Action hinders fundamental freedoms – freedom of expression and peaceful assembly – and is at odds with the UK’s obligations under international human rights law.
Amnesty International has said the mass arrests are deeply concerning and disproportionate to the point of absurdity, highlighting that the government should focus on taking immediate and unequivocal action to put a stop to Israel’s genocide instead.
Organisations including Greenpeace, Human Rights Watch, Friends of the Earth, Global Witness and the Quakers have signed a letter to the attorney general for England and Wales, stating that to proceed with charges or trials against protesters before the legal challenge to the ban on Palestine Action is heard in November would raise significant legal and moral questions.
It certainly feels like – as per the title of Omar El Akkad’s book which calls out western hypocrisy over Gaza – one day, everyone will have always been against this.
I hope that day arrives soon. On that day, this government will have to answer to the people, and their own consciences, about what they have done.
