Why is the Palestine Action group being banned by the UK government?
The home secretary is set to ban the Palestine Action protest group and effectively brand it as a terrorist organisation following a break-in at an RAF base.
Yvette Cooper is expected to deliver a ministerial statement to Parliament on Monday, in which she is expected to lay out her plans to proscribe the group.
New legislation, which would have to be debated by MPs and peers, will be needed to enact a ban of Palestine Action, whose activists entered the RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire and vandalised two planes.
A video of the break-in, shared online by the group on Friday, is being viewed as an embarrassing episode for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), particularly as the two protesters managed to exit the base without being arrested.
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer described the vandalism as "disgraceful" and said it is the government's "responsibility to support those who defend us".
But some have questioned whether the damage carried out by Palestine Action should meet the threshold of classing it as a "proscribed organisation".
Cooper has decided to proscribe the group, making it a criminal offence to belong to or support Palestine Action.
The decision by the home secretary comes after the group posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton.
One person can be seen riding an electric scooter to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker and appearing to spray paint into its jet engine.
The incident is being investigated by counter-terror police and has prompted a review of security at RAF bases.
The group has staged a series of demonstrations in recent months, including spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalising Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire.
Friday's incident at Brize Norton prompted calls for the group to be banned, but proscription will require Cooper to lay an order in Parliament, which must then be debated and approved by both MPs and peers.
Some 81 organisations have been proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000, including Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and al Qaida.
Far-right groups such as National Action, and Russian private military company Wagner Group have also been banned.
Another 14 organisations connected with Northern Ireland are also banned under previous legislation, including the IRA and UDA.
Belonging to or expressing support for a proscribed organisation, along with a number of other actions, are criminal offences carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
Ministers have said a ban is justified, with defence secretary John Healey describing the vandalism of RAF planes as "totally unacceptable".
"These aircraft are used by our military personnel to support security and peace around the world," he said. "This action does nothing to support Gaza or our push for peace and stability in the Middle East".
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said: "There can be no place in a democracy for groups that use violence, sabotage and potential terrorist acts to pursue their political goals.
"We've called for these groups to be investigated and banned, those responsible to be prosecuted, and any links to foreign agents to be exposed."
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman said banning the group is "absolutely the correct decision", writing on X: "We must have zero tolerance for terrorism."
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have also come out in support of a ban.
Lord Walney, who served as the government's independent adviser on political violence, told Sky News the move was "long overdue", claiming that the group had acted as "the enemy within".
"They have terrorised working people for a number of years and there's a number of serious violent charges that are going through the court system at the moment," he added.
Defending its actions, a spokesperson for Palestine Action said: 'When our government fails to uphold their moral and legal obligations, it is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to take direct action.
"The terrorists are the ones committing a genocide, not those who break the tools used to commit it.'
The spokesperson accused the UK of failing to meet its obligations to prevent or punish genocide, in relation to Israel's onslaught in Gaza.
In a statement on X, the group said: "By making plans to ban us, the British state is effectively saying they value the property used to commit genocide more than the people killed.
Saeed Taji Farouky, a spokesperson for the group, told Times Radio: "The idea that Palestine Action could end up on the same list as groups like ISIS is just absolutely absurd. This is a knee jerk reaction."
Addressing a crowd of pro-Palestine demonstrators in Whitehall on Saturday, former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf accused the government of "abusing" anti-terror laws.
Human rights group Amnesty International UK said it is "deeply concerned at the use of counter terrorism powers to target protest groups".
"Terrorism powers should never have been used to aggravate criminal charges against Palestine Action activists and they certainly shouldn't be used to ban them," it added.
Former justice secretary Lord Charlie Falconer said vandalising aircraft at RAF Brize Norton would not solely provide legal justification for proscribing the protest group.
Appearing on Sky News' Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, he said: "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.
"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 ."
Keir Starmer says Kneecap Glastonbury performance is not 'appropriate' (The Independent)
RAF base 'targeted in Iran spy plot' (The Telegraph)
Briton arrested for alleged terrorism offences and spying on RAF base in Cyprus (The Guardian)
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