Palestine Action to be banned after RAF base break in

Palestine Action to be banned after RAF base break in

11 hours ago Share Save Chris Mason Political editor Zahra Fatima BBC News Share Save

BBC Red paint can be seen on parts of the plane

The home secretary will move to proscribe the Palestine Action group in the coming weeks, effectively branding them as a terrorist organisation, the BBC understands. Yvette Cooper is preparing a written statement to put before Parliament on Monday - which if passed will make becoming a member of the group illegal. The decision comes as a security review begins at military bases across the UK, after pro-Palestinian activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and sprayed two military planes with red paint. A spokesperson for Palestine Action said: "When our government fails to uphold their moral and legal obligations, it is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to take direct action."

In a separate post on X, it said the group represented "every individual" who is opposed to Israel's military action in Gaza, adding: "If they want to ban us, they ban us all". Under UK law, the home secretary has the power to proscribe an organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000 if they believe it is "concerned with terrorism". To enact the move, new legislation will be needed, which must be debated and approved by both MPs and peers. There are currently 81 groups proscribed as terrorist organisations in the UK under the Terrorism Act. Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the move to ban the group was "absolutely the correct decision". "We must have zero tolerance for terrorism," she wrote in a post on X. But Amnesty International UK said it was "deeply concerned at the use of counter terrorism powers to target protest groups." "Terrorism powers should never have been used to aggravate criminal charges against Palestine Action activists and they certainly shouldn't be used to ban them," it wrote on social media. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer earlier condemned Friday's incident as "disgraceful". The group's actions sparked outrage among some MPs, with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick calling for the group to be banned.

Watch: BBC looks at how activists breached RAF base Brize Norton