A rally is to be held in Derry this evening in protest at the British Government’s plan to ban the campaign group Palestine Action.
A spokesperson for the Derry Branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) hit out at the British government after it was announced Palestine Action are to be proscribed.
Chair of Derry IPSC, Catherine Hutton, said labelling those who engage in peaceful, nonviolent, direct action as terrorists ‘is a dangerous and anti-democratic move’.
“We stand firmly against the proscribing of PA, a group that has consistently engaged in peaceful and non-violent protests advocating for the rights of Palestinians.
“The right to protest is a fundamental democratic principle. To label people trying to stop wars and save lives as terrorists is obscene,” she said.
Ms. Hutton was speaking after the British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced she intended proscribing PA under section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
The decision follows damage caused to a number of military planes at an RAF base in Oxfordshire.
PA said its activists ‘damaged two military planes at RAF Brize Norton, where flights leave daily for RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, a base used for military operations in Gaza and across the Middle East’.
Encouraging people to join the rally at Free Derry Corner at 6.30pm this evening, Catherine Hutton added, “The commitment to peaceful activism from PA stands in stark contrast to the violent genocide supported and facilitated by the British Government.
“Groups like PA would not have to take these actions if the government were not involved in supplying weaponry to be used against innocent men, women and children.
“We believe that the proscription of PA is an illegal attempt by the British government to prevent a light being shone on their complicity in the Gaza genocide.
“We stand with PA,” she said.
