LONDON: Pensioner Marji Mansfield never imagined she would end up suspected of terrorism for protesting against the banning of a pro-Palestinian group.
But the British grandmother was arrested on July 5 for joining a demonstration in support of Palestine Action just days after it was added to the UK government’s list of proscribed organizations.
“It’s a terrible shock to be accused of potentially being a terrorist,” said Mansfield, 68, who described herself as a “proud grandmother” of seven.
She “was never politically interested,” the former banking consultant from the southern town of Chichester told AFP. “I just worked hard, raised my family, lived an ordinary life.”
In early July, the UK government banned Palestine Action under the UK’s Terrorism Act, after activists broke into an air force base in England and damaged two aircraft.
Since then, the campaign group Defend Our Juries has organized protests around the country to challenge the ban, described as “disproportionate” by the United Nations rights chief.
More than 200 people have been arrested, according to Tim Crosland, a member of Defend Our Juries. They risk prison sentences of up to 14 years.
A new demonstration in support of the group, which was founded in 2020, is planned on Saturday in London. Organizers expect at least 500 people to turn up, and police have warned all demonstrators could face arrest.
People “don’t know what the nature of this group is,” interior minister Yvette Cooper has said, claiming that “this is not a non-violent group.”
But Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori has launched a court bid to overturn the ban and a hearing is set for November.
Mansfield has long supported the Palestinian people, but the start of the current war, sparked by Hamas’s attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, galvanized her into action.
“When it started happening again ... it was the most horrible feeling, that children’s homes were being blown up, that their schools were being destroyed,” she said.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel’s subsequent campaign to eradicate the Palestinian militant group in Gaza has killed more than 60,000 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which are deemed reliable by the United Nations.
For Mansfield, the Palestine Action ban was the final straw, fueling her feelings that the government was silencing her political views.
The night before attending the July demonstration, Mansfield said she was “terrified.” But she did not change her mind.
Images on British media showed her being moved by several police officers after she refused to get up from the pavement. An 83-year-old woman was by her side.
Mansfield spent 12 hours in custody, and is now banned from parts of London, meaning she cannot visit some museums with her grandchildren as she would like to do.
“It was just ordinary people,” said Mansfield. “We came from all backgrounds ... we’re not terrorists.”
Alice Clark, a 49-year-old doctor, also does not regret attending the protest where she was arrested in London on July 19.
“Nobody wants to be arrested. I just feel that there’s a responsibility,” said Clark, who also accused the government of undermining “our civil liberties.”
Cooper said the ban on Palestine Action was “based on detailed security assessments and security advice.”
The ban says the group’s “methods have become more aggressive” by encouraging members to carry out attacks which have already caused millions of pounds in damage.
But Clark, a former volunteer for medical charity Doctors Without Borders, said she felt “growing disgust and horror” at the images of starving children in Gaza.
The 12 hours in custody after her arrest were a shock. If convicted, she risks losing her license to practice medicine.
“There were points where I was close to tears. But I think just remembering why I was doing it kind of helped me keep calm,” said Clark.
History student Zahra Ali, 18, was also arrested on July 19, before being released under supervision. None of the three women has been charged.
She is also appalled by the scenes from Gaza.
“The starvation in Gaza, it’s disgusting. And our government isn’t doing anything about that,” she told AFP.
Imagining herself in prison at 18 is “a big thing,” but “if people who are in their 80s can do it, then I can do it,” Ali said.
She also does not describe herself as an activist, but as “a normal person ... who decided that what our government is doing is wrong.”
UK pensioner, student arrested for backing Palestine Action
https://arab.news/ykh9k
UK pensioner, student arrested for backing Palestine Action
- Pensioner Marji Mansfield never imagined she would end up suspected of terrorism for protesting against the banning of a pro-Palestinian group
Australia to toughen gun laws as it mourns deadly Bondi attack
- Footage showed one man, identified by local media as fruit seller Ahmed al Ahmed, grabbing one of the gunmen as he fired
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened a meeting of leaders of Australia’s states and territories in response on Monday, agreeing with them “to strengthen gun laws across the nation”
SYDNEY: Australia’s leaders have agreed to toughen gun laws after attackers killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach, the worst mass shooting in decades decried as antisemitic “terrorism” by authorities.
Dozens fled in panic as a father and son fired into crowds packing the Sydney beach for the start of Hanukkah on Sunday evening.
A 10-year-old girl, a Holocaust survivor and a local rabbi were among those killed, while 42 others were rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds and other injuries.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened a meeting of leaders of Australia’s states and territories in response on Monday, agreeing with them “to strengthen gun laws across the nation.”
Albanese’s office said they agreed to explore ways to improve background checks for firearm owners, bar non-nationals from obtaining gun licenses and limit the types of weapons that are legal.
Mass shootings have been rare in Australia since a lone gunman killed 35 people in the town of Port Arthur in 1996, which led to sweeping reforms long seen as a gold standard worldwide.
Those included a gun buyback scheme, a national firearms register and a crackdown on ownership of semi-automatic weapons.
But Sunday’s shooting has raised fresh questions about how the two suspects — who public broadcaster ABC reported had possible links to the Daesh group — obtained the guns.
- ‘An act of pure evil’ -
Police are still unraveling what drove Sunday’s attack, although authorities have said it targeted Jews.
Albanese called it “an act of pure evil, an act of antisemitism, an act of terrorism on our shores.”
A string of antisemitic attacks has spread fear among Australia’s Jewish communities after the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
The Australian government this year accused Iran of orchestrating a recent wave of antisemitic attacks and expelled Tehran’s ambassador nearly four months ago.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Australia’s government of “pouring oil on the fire of antisemitism” in the months before the shooting, referring to Canberra’s announcement that it would recognize Palestinian statehood in August.
Other world leaders expressed revulsion, with US President Donald Trump condemning the “antisemitic attack.”
The gunmen opened fire on an annual celebration that drew more than 1,000 people to the beach to mark Hanukkah.
They took aim from a raised boardwalk at a beach packed with swimmers cooling off on the steamy summer evening.
Witness Beatrice was celebrating her birthday and had just blown out the candles when the shooting started.
“We thought it was fireworks,” she told AFP. “We’re just feeling lucky we’re all safe.”
Carrying long-barrelled guns, they peppered the beach with bullets for 10 minutes before police shot and killed the 50-year-old father.
The 24-year-old son was arrested and remains under guard in hospital with serious injuries.
Australian media named the suspects as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram.
Tony Burke, the home affairs minister, said the father arrived in Australia on a student visa in 1998 and had become a permanent resident. The son was an Australia-born citizen.
Hours after the shooting, police found a homemade bomb in a car parked close to the beach, saying the “improvised explosive device” had likely been planted by the pair.
Rabbi Mendel Kastel said his brother-in-law was among the dead.
“We need to hold strong. This is not the Australia that we know. This is not the Australia that we want.”
Wary of reprisals, police have so far avoided questions about the attackers’ religion or ideological motivations.
Misinformation spread quickly online after the attacks, some of it targeting immigrants and the Muslim community.
Police said they responded to reports on Monday of several pig heads left at a Muslim cemetery in southwestern Sydney.
- Panic and bravery -
A brave few dashed toward the beach as the shooting unfolded, wading through fleeing crowds to rescue children, treat the injured and confront the gunmen.
Footage showed one man, identified by local media as fruit seller Ahmed al Ahmed, grabbing one of the gunmen as he fired.
The 43-year-old wrestled the gun out of the attacker’s hands, before pointing the weapon at him as he backed away.
A team of off-duty lifeguards sprinted across the sand to drag children to safety.
“The team ran out under fire to try and clear children from the playground while the gunmen were firing,” said Steven Pearce from Surf Life Saving New South Wales.
Bleeding victims were carried across the beach atop surfboards turned into makeshift stretchers.
On Monday evening, a flower memorial next to Bondi Beach swelled in size as mourners gathered.
Hundreds, including members of the Jewish community, sang songs, clapped and held each other.
Leading a ceremony to light a menorah candle, a rabbi told the crowd: “The only strength we have is if we bring light into the world.”
