Palestine Action protesters descend on London in fury at being proscribed terror group
Palestine Action has been banned from protesting outside Parliament as it was confirmed the Government will proscribe the group as a terror organisation.
GB News understands that within an hour of the protest beginning in Trafalgar Square, multiple people have been arrested.
Met Police have imposed an exclusion zone around Parliament and told protesters they face arrest if they enter the area.
In a statement on X, the force wrote: "Public Order Act conditions have been imposed on the protest in support of Palestine Action due to take place tomorrow. The protest must not begin before midday and must end by 3pm."
Met Police also included a map of the exclusion zone and warned that the protest cannot take place within the area.
Following the announcement of the exclusion zone, the protest was moved to Trafalgar Square, where hundreds of people have gathered.
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, said he was "shocked and frustrated" at the group's plans to protest ahead of Cooper's judgement.
The group are protesting in London
GB News
Met Police have issued a Public Order Act on the Palestine Action protest
MET POLICE
Dozens of protesters have arrived in Trafalgar Square
MET POLICE
Dozens of protesters have descended on London
GB News
Protesters held up a banner stating: 'We are all Palestine Action'
GB News
Police usher away a protester
GB News
Palestine Action said on social media: "The Metropolitan Police are trying to deter support from Palestine Action by banning the protest from taking place at the Houses of Parliament. Don't let them win."
Around 200 protesters, with some wearing black face coverings, have gathered in a small section of Trafalgar Square.
Placards read: "Britain, US, Israel are terrorists... Hands off Palestine Action".
Others stated: "Defend the right to protest. Drop the charges."
Palestine Action posted a video of their infiltration of RAF Brize Norton on Friday morning, boasting they "escaped undetected" following the raid.
Activists sprayed red paint and took crowbars to two military aircraft.
RAF sources said all aircraft would undergo full engineering checks and said the damage appeared superficial.
Pro-Palestine protesters break into RAF base and damage two military aircrafts
Counter terrorism police have been confirmed to be investigating the break-in alongside Thames Valley Police and the Ministry of Defence.
Defence Secretary John Healey said: "The vandalism of RAF planes is totally unacceptable. I am really disturbed that this happened and have ordered an investigation and a review of wider security at our bases."
Sir Keir Starmer also weighed in on the act of vandalism at the Oxfordshire base, which has acted as one of Britain's most strategically important military airfields for nearly 80 years, branding it "disgraceful".
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was the first political party leader to call for the group to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation.
Palestine Action damaged two military aircraft recently
PALESTINE ACTION
Voyager aircraft tagged with red paint
REUTERS
Footage posted online by Palestine Action showed two people entering the base in darkness, with one riding an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager aircraft.
They then used "repurposed fire extinguishers to spray red paint into the turbine engines".
Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at think tank Rusi, described the airfield invasion as "a fairly catastrophic failure of force protection".
"The challenge of defending air bases from unconventional attacks is a cross-departmental problem, but one that needs to be urgently looked at," he told The i Paper.
He added: "Questions will be asked. I would suggest it's probably much more important to look at the systemic failures and how to address them, rather than to try and look for a scapegoat."
An ex-guard at an overseas RAF base told the same publication that security was "lax and hugely out of date", and highlighted at one point a local farmer had been given a key to a fence next to the runway "in case he wanted to herd his livestock through".
Two protesters broke into RAF Brize Norton
GOOGLE MAPS
Voyager aircraft on the runway at RAF Brize Norton
REUTERS
Following the incident, a Palestine Action spokesperson stated: "Despite publicly condemning the Israeli Government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US/Israeli fighter jets.
"Britain isn't just complicit, it's an active participant in the Gaza genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.
"By decommissioning two military planes, Palestine Action have directly intervened to break the chains of oppression."
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