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Armed police threatened a peaceful protester with arrest under the Terrorism Act for holding a Palestinian flag and having signs saying “Free Gaza” and “Israel is committing genocide”, accusing her of supporting a proscribed organisation.
Officers told Laura Murton, 42, that her demonstration in Canterbury, Kent, on Monday evening expressed views supportive of Palestine Action, which was banned under terrorism legislation earlier this month.
Murton said neither of her signs mentioned Palestine Action. When asked directly whether she supported any proscribed organisations, she replied: “I do not.”
In the encounter, which she filmed, one officer told her: “Mentioning freedom of Gaza, Israel, genocide, all of that all come under proscribed groups, which are terror groups that have been dictated by the government.”
He went on to say that the phrase “Free Gaza” is “supportive of Palestine Action”, adding it was an offence “to express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, namely Palestine Action is an offence under section 12(1A) of the Terrorism Act”. The officer told her she had committed that offence.
The officers said they would arrest Murton unless she provided her name and address, which she reluctantly agreed to do.
Speaking to the Guardian, Murton said: “I don’t see how anything I was wearing, how anything I was displaying, anything I was saying, could be deemed as supportive of the proscribed group.”
“It’s terrifying, I was standing there thinking, this is the most authority, authoritarian, dystopian experience I’ve had in this country, being told that I’m committing terrorist offences by two guys with firearms.”
“I ended up giving my details, and I really resent the fact I had to do that because I don’t think that was lawful at all.”
The ban on Palestine Action, the first against a direct action protest group, came into force on 5 July after a high court judge refused to grant the group’s co-founder Huda Ammori an injunction suspending it while legal action was pending.
In written submissions, Raza Husain KC and Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC, representing Ammori, warned: “Proscription of Palestine Action is highly likely to have a wide chilling effect on speech and assembly of those seeking to speak out against Israel’s serious violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian territory, including in Gaza.”
During an unsuccessful attempt to appeal against the decision, Ní Ghrálaigh told the court of appeal “a vast number of individuals who wished to continue protesting would fall foul of the proscription regime due to its lack of clarity”.
One of the police officers told Murton they were “trying to be fair”, adding: “We could have jumped out, arrested you, dragged you off in a van.”
Explaining her motivation for the protest, Murton, who lives in Canterbury, said: “Day to day, people are getting killed, and I can’t handle that. I can’t handle sitting and doing nothing. Just showing up during rush hour to remind people that Palestine exists and that genocide is happening and try to keep it in the public consciousness – it wasn’t motivated by anything other than that.”
Tom Southerden, Amnesty International UK’s law and human rights director, described the footage as “very concerning”. He added: “We have long criticised UK terrorism law for being excessively broad and vaguely worded and a threat to freedom of expression. This video documents one aspect of exactly the kind of thing we were warning about.”
A Kent police spokesperson said: “Under the Terrorism Act it is a criminal offence to carry or display items that may arouse reasonable suspicion that an individual is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation such as Palestine Action.”
