LONDON: The daughter of a Holocaust survivor was arrested in central London on Saturday after taking part in a protest against the banning of Palestine Action.
Carolyn Gelenter, 67, was part of a group of about 100 demonstrators who were targeted by police in the capital for holding signs that read, “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action,” The Independent reported.
The group was proscribed by the government in July this year after two of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base. It is now illegal to show support for Palestine Action in the UK.
Gelenter, who is from Australia but lives in London, said that she “could not be a bystander” over the issue. She was previously arrested on the same charges at another protest.
She told the PA news agency before being arrested: “I wasn’t sure I wanted to get arrested again. I thought I’d made my point, and it got lots of media attention, but I just was worried there weren’t enough people, and I’m really worried about the erosion of our democratic rights.
“Right to free speech, peaceful protest and free assembly are all being eroded. As a Jew, and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, I just feel I cannot stand by and watch this happening.
“It feels really worrying what’s going on in this country, let alone what’s going on in Gaza and the West Bank. I can’t be a bystander.”
At a similar demonstration held in Belfast, Northern Ireland, police observed demonstrators from a short distance without intervention.
In London, another protester, 68-year-old Gil Murray, was arrested for a sixth time over support for Palestine Action.
Before he was carried away by police, Murray told PA: “People are now increasingly in politics calling other people traitors or terrorists, but for the government to call people terrorists when they’re not — and we all know that holding a placard is not terrorism — is quite another matter.
“We all know genocide is wrong. In the Second World War, we fought a war against this sort of thing, and the guys who were invading other countries and committing genocide were the bad guys, and now they seem to be the good guys.
“I just cannot believe how attitudes have changed. I think we are losing the peace. We are losing what we fought for in the Second World War.”
At least 15 police vans were parked near the London protesters on Saturday, and officers appeared to outnumber those taking part in the rally.
A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries, the organizer of the event, said: “We are taking action today in the Peace Garden because it is a reminder that people acting in the name of Palestine Action only ever acted to save lives, never to take lives.
“The ban has been widely condemned as an act of authoritarian overreach; protest is not terrorism.”
Membership of, or support for, Palestine Action is punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment in the UK.
The group’s co-founder, Huda Ammori, has launched legal action against former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to proscribe the group using counterterrorism legislation.
A court hearing on the case is set to take place next week.
