Val Aston

I also think this can't be sustained - but it will be human rights law that will be its downfall. Neither the police nor home office have any respect for the concept of 'policing by concent'

Lots of people are saying that today marks the largest mass arrest in Britain.
Not quite. Back on 17 Sept 1961, my mum helped organise this demo where over 1000 were arrested for sitting down in Trafalgar Square.
If we don’t want today’s resistance to be forgotten, let’s not forget yesterday’s.

Finally, a sensible article.

Leading global scholars sign letter urging UK to end Palestine Action ban Naomi Klein and Angela Davis among those demanding stop to ‘attack on fundamental freedoms’ of assembly and protest

Leading global scholars sign letter urging UK to end Palestine Action ban www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Please everyone read Francesca Albanese’s latest report on the “economy of genocide” www.ohchr.org/en/documents...

'Facial recognition tech mistook me for wanted man' Shaun Thompson is challenging the Met Police's use of live facial recognition technology.

Shaun Thompson, who is bringing a High Court challenge against the Metropolitan Police after live facial recognition technology wrongly identified him as a suspect, has described it as "stop and search on steroids" and called for structural change

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Will someone please call the police.

German police expands use of Palantir surveillance software – DW – 08/04/2025 Police and spy agencies are keen to combat criminality and terrorism with artificial intelligence. But critics say the CIA-funded Palantir surveillance software enables "predictive policing."

German police expands use of Palantir surveillance software www.dw.com/en/german-po...

This is a cool thread by a young person who cares deeply about the Internet. It's a rare find these days.

@elizabethsipod.bsky.social warns that with the way age verification is rolling out in the UK, kids risk being entirely shut out not just from pornography, but the entire web.

"One nation has effectively wiped out football in another nation, but has not faced any sanctions for doing so. Whatever happens from here, the past two years will remain a stain on the sport and those who run it"
morningstaronline.co.uk/article/wher...

Yes, indeed, poor phrasing on my part. Police operational decisions are not to be challenged (legally or politically). Therefore policing costs must necessarily be the fault of those being policed.

The costs of policing protest are, however, often framed as being the fault of protesters - that is, not a case of police overspending on policing protest, but a case of people *unreasonably* exercising their Art 11 rights.

"The judge.. said there has already been, & I quote, 'a chilling effect on those wishing to express legitimate political views as an indirect consequences of the proscription'"

The High Court has granted permission for a full legal review of the banning of Palestine Action

Palestine Action co-founder wins permission to challenge ban Huda Ammori argued that home secretary’s decision to proscribe group under terrorism laws was ‘abuse of power’

High Court rules that judicial review of proscription of Palestine Action can proceed www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Permission granted for judicial review of PA proscription - likely this Autumn. “If, as the claimant says, the proscription order is likely to have a significant chilling effect on the legitimate political speech of many thousands of people, that would do considerable harm to the public interest"

Tomorrow the High Court will rule on whether the legal challenge to the Home Sec Yvette Cooper’s ban on Palestine Action can proceed to a full hearing

Lawyers for Cooper argued a judicial review would be wrong as the Terrorism Act has a process to apply for de-proscription (which could take years).

Watching a whole people starve to death because of Israeli policy and because of the inaction of our government is horrifying, and it is also destroying our souls, not just those of our politicians who could act and don’t, but those of all of us who are forced to watch and do nothing.

UK human rights watchdog accepts complaints against Barclays and HSBC over private prison investments Today, the United Kingdom’s National Contact Point (NCP) accepted complaints against UK-based banks Barclays and HSBC, filed by Worth Rises, Coalition for Immigrant Freedom and BankTrack.…

BREAKING: UK watchdog accepts #humanrights complaints against Barclays and HSBC over private prison investments.

www.banktrack.org/article/rele...

UK ban on Palestine Action at odds with international law, says UN rights chief Volker Türk says the Home Office proscription restricts right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly

#UN #HumanRights Commissioner, Volker Türk, calls #UK ban on #PalestineAction "disproportionate," "unnecessary," and an “impermissible restriction” of freedom of expression and assembly. He's right.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

UK police hold pro-Palestine protester, 80, for almost 27 hours and search house Marianne Sorrell, a retired teacher from Somerset, says she is ‘very traumatised’ after arrest at Cardiff rally

Proscription involves more than liability for criminal offences: it enables the entire counter-terrorism apparatus - long detentions, searches, surveillance etc. Another reason why it is a disproportionate measure for a protest group. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Return to office: a power grab masquerading as policy The data shows remote work boosts outcomes yet control, not collaboration, remains the real motivator

Timely. And I absolutely concur.

share.google/8D7laC6Fgpno...

Mass starvation spreading across Gaza, aid agencies warn, as pressure on Israel grows – Middle East crisis live More than 100 aid agencies, including Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and Oxfam, say ‘our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away’

As #Palestine is starved, I wonder if there is any point at which #Israel 's allies, enablers and supporters will think this has gone too far, or will they only recognize this #genocide after the fact, and sigh that something should have been done...

www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Criticising the ban on Palestine Action is not the same as saying "I support this organisation". It cannot be reasonably be stretched to mean I back a group, because the premise of the statements are different. But the doubt is designed to shut people up.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

An unbearably sad statement from the Editorial Committee (SDJ) of the AFP news agency, please read:

"Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die.
AFP has been working with 1 writer, 3 photographers and 6 videographers, all freelance, in the Gaza Strip… /1

Assume the Home Office would have been alive to the risk of large scale non-compliance with TACT provisions after proscription. Which might provide an explanation of the numerous instances of police 'getting things wrong' across the country. Risk prevention more important than legal certainty?

Do not look away.

Confirmation from Milan Rai of the arrest of Gabriel Carlyle, Antony Bradnum and Emma Sangster

Before we have to get into the whole "where's the video" palaver again, here's the source - apologies for the lack of alt-text

In today's case seeking leave to judicially review the ban on Palestine Action, a judge has said the Kent case with the woman with a flag was an “officer that doesn’t understand the law” and “there will be cases where the police get things wrong”

But armed. And threatening a terrorism arrest 🤔

NOW: The High Court is hearing a case to challenge the government's decision to ban Palestine Action under anti-terror laws.

🧵 Thread of updates from inside court:

Four arrested under Terrorism Act during Liverpool pro-Palestine protest Merseyside police says material in support of Palestine Action was reportedly seen in possession of protesters

Using terrorism legislation to lock up peaceful protesters holding cardboard signs - not a great look for a government that says its committed to human rights and international law. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...