Good morning. At first glance, you could mistake it for an image of a pair of community cops assisting an elderly woman as she navigates some tricky steps. Only closer examination reveals they are arresting her.
Yesterday afternoon, 84-year-old Reverend Sue Parfitt, a retired Anglican priest, and 13 others stepped one by one on to a modest cardboard box outside New Scotland Yard in London, to invite members of the constabulary to join the banned direct action network Palestine Action. That simple invitation, made with tongues firmly in cheeks, resulted in their arrests under section 12 of the Terrorism Act, punishable with up to 14 years’ imprisonment. It was a balmy afternoon and the arresting officers wore shirt sleeves. As a courtesy to the advanced years of some of the protesters, elders were not handcuffed.
