THE UK Government are facing renewed calls to end the proscription of Palestine Action, following Ed Miliband's admission that people opposing genocide in Palestine "were right".
Speaking to the Labour conference this week, the Foreign Secretary said: “And I want to say to the millions of people in this country, and indeed elsewhere who have been moved and outraged by the plight of the Palestinian people, we hear you.
"You were right. And under Andy’s leadership, we have reset our approach.”
His comments came despite police arresting or reporting for summons 161 people outside the Labour Party conference.
Hundreds of people sat outside the conference centre in Liverpool on Sunday, holding handmade banners saying they supported banned group Palestine Action.
Police started making arrests in the afternoon, continuing for several hours.
Ex-home secretary Yvette Cooper passed an order last year which placed Palestine Action to the list of proscribed organisations under Schedule 2 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
The legislation makes it illegal to be a member of or support Palestine Action.
Miliband was referring to his previous speech in which he reset the UK’s relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, announcing a ban on goods from illegal West Bank settlements.
Both Israel and the US criticised the UK’s stance, with Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar announcing counter measures including closing the UK’s consulate in Jerusalem and banning 11 MPs from entry to the country.
Scottish Greens spokesperson for Justice, Maggie Chapman MSP said: “The people who have marched, organised and spoken out against Israel’s genocide have helped force Palestine onto the political agenda. They deserve to be heard and their rights respected.
“Ed Miliband is right to acknowledge the outrage felt by millions of people who have watched the devastation of Gaza and demanded that their government act.
“But that acknowledgement will ring hollow as long as Labour maintains a ban that has criminalised hundreds of people for calling out genocide and other war crimes, waving banners and wearing t-shirts.
“Seeing ministers applaud the conscience of campaigners from a conference stage, while people outside face arrest for expressing their solidarity, and people in Gaza continue to face unimaginable torment in the face of genocide, is as out-of-touch as it is cruel."
She added: “If the Labour Government is remotely serious about changing course, it must end the proscription of Palestine Action and defend our fundamental rights to freedom of expression and peaceful protest.
“Instead of banning protesters, the UK Government should be banning arms sales to Israel and ensuring that the UK is no longer complicit in the oppression of the Palestinian people.”
