Palestine Action protesters ‘pose threat to MPs'
The security of MPs and peers is at risk from a protest outside Parliament by Palestine Action against its proscription as a terrorist organisation, a former Government adviser has warned.
Lord Walney, the Government's former adviser on political violence, urged Scotland Yard to take a tougher approach to protests outside Parliament. The Palestine Action demonstration takes place on Monday.
He said there was growing concern following a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside Parliament two weeks ago, which saw peers 'harassed, intimidated and obstructed'.
Some 60 peers have written to Lord McFall, the Lord Speaker, calling for a review of security arrangements around Parliament with Scotland Yard and parliamentary officials.
The appeal comes just three days after Palestine Action activists breached security at the Brize Norton RAF base and sprayed paint into the engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is expected to confirm plans on Monday to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, putting it on a par with Hamas, Al-Qaeda and Islamic state. It would mean anyone supporting the group could face up to 14 years in prison.
Palestine Action has posted on social media a call to supporters to join an 'emergency mobilisation' at the Houses of Parliament at 12pm on Monday, with the headline 'We are all Palestine Action'.
Lord Walney said: 'MPs and peers look like they have to run the gauntlet just to get into Parliament to exercise their democratic duty on behalf of the nation. This is putting their security at risk and clearly undermining democracy, where parliamentarians feel they are afraid to go to work.
'The Met have frankly let people down recently in the way they have allowed crowds to physically intimidate people trying to get access to Parliament. There is a real responsibility for them to change their approach for this protest.
'Palestine Action is an organisation set to be banned as a terrorist organisation, which is connected to a number of trials going through the system involving serious violence against individuals.'
Jonathan Hall KC, the Government's independent adviser on terrorism legislation, said that proscription of Palestine Action was 'within the bounds of acceptability' even though it was on the basis of the scale of damage to significant infrastructure including military equipment rather than against individuals.
'All other terrorist organisations are banned or proscribed because they are using or threatening violence to people. This is an unusual one in this respect,' he said.
However, he suggested that Palestine Action had tipped over into 'blackmail' rather than purely protest. 'It's gone to a point where they've started to say, we will carry on causing hundreds of millions of pounds worth of damage unless you stop,' said Mr Hall.
'And I think the way the law approaches that, there's a difference between protest and effectively, blackmail.'
However, Lord Falconer, a former Labour lord chancellor, said vandalising aircraft at RAF Brize Norton would not solely provide legal justification for proscribing Palestine Action.
Asked whether the group's actions were 'commensurate with the need to proscribe an organisation', he told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News: 'I am not aware of what Palestine Action has done beyond the painting of things on the planes in Brize Norton. They may have done other things I didn't know.
'I think the question will probably not be what we know about them publicly, but there would need to be something that was known by those who look at these sorts of things that we don't know about, because I mean they got into the air base, which might suggest they've got some degree of ability to make them dangerous, I don't know.
'But generally, that sort of demonstration wouldn't justify proscription, so there must be something else that I don't know about.'
Met Police sources said officers will be deployed to the protest at Parliament on Monday to ensure MPs and peers could continue to safely enter the estate. Officers are currently reviewing intelligence as to whether any additional public order measures were needed.
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