LONDON
\nA member of the UK\u2019s Palestine Action, which on Friday carried out a high-profile protest by breaking into an air force base, has described government plans to proscribe the group as \u201cabsurd.\u201d Saeed Taji Farouky told the BBC that the plan to effectively brand the group a terrorist organization \u201crips apart the very basic concepts of British democracy and the rule of law.\u201d He added: \u201cIt\u2019s something everyone should be terrified about.\u201d
\nHome Secretary Yvette Cooper is believed to be drafting a written statement on the proscription to be delivered before Parliament on Monday, the BBC reported. It follows a protest by two members of Palestine Action who broke into RAF Brize Norton and sprayed red paint inside the jet engines of two military aircraft.
\nUK Prime Minister Keir Starmer branded the protest \u201cdisgraceful,\u201d and the story has raised questions in the national media over the security of British bases. Farouky told the BBC that he had been convicted for criminal damage after a separate Palestine Action event.
\nThe government move to proscribe the group is a \u201cknee-jerk reaction\u201d that is \u201cbeing rushed through,\u201d he added. Palestine Action\u2019s \u201cwhole reason for being is to break the material supply chain to genocide,\u201d he said, describing the break-in on Friday as an \u201cescalation in tactics because the genocide has escalated.\u201d
\nRAF Brize Norton is a hub for strategic air transport and refueling operations, and military aircraft regularly fly from there to the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, which serves as an operational center for British reconnaissance flights over Gaza.
\nAfter the Brize Norton protest, a Palestine Action spokesperson said: \u201cDespite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US and Israeli fighter jets.\u201d
\nAfter self-recorded footage of the break-in was posted online, counterterrorism police launched an investigation. The government also launched a security review of military bases across Britain.
\nAmnesty International UK on Friday said it is \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d over the use of British counterterrorism to target protests.
\n\u201cTerrorism powers should never have been used to aggravate criminal charges against Palestine Action activists and they certainly shouldn\u2019t be used to ban them,\u201d it said.
\nSince the beginning of Israel\u2019s war in Gaza, Palestine Action has carried out protests against arms companies, including Israel\u2019s Elbit Systems, which operates factories in Britain.
\nJonathan Hall, the UK\u2019s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told the BBC that the group had \u201cgone beyond protest to blackmail.\u201d
\nHe added: \u201cIt\u2019s got to a point where they\u2019ve started to say: \u2018We will carry on causing hundreds of millions of pounds worth of damage unless you stop.\u2019\u201d
\nThe UK has proscribed 81 groups as terrorist organizations under the Terrorism Act 2000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON A member of the UK\u2019s Palestine Action, which on Friday carried out a high-profile protest by breaking into an air force base, has described government plans to proscribe the group as \u201cabsurd.\u201d Saeed Taji Farouky told the BBC that the plan to effectively brand the group a terrorist organization \u201crips apart the very basic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485911,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-485901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n