‘I have never been an activist’: Meet the pensioners risking prison to support Palestine Action
Immediately after 1 in the morning, in a query room, his 68 -year -old grandmother Seven Marji Mansfield sat in front of counter -terrorist officers after being arrested in a pro -Palestin protest in the center of London.
This possibility experienced bad sleep for days. Now, a “aggressive gibi man was asking him again and again, whether he had sympathized with a terrorist organization, and he was taking him to a comprehensive question list of politics and who he knew in Gaza.
A few hours ago, afternoon, July 5, half a dozen officer handcuffed the retirement and pulled him off the ground and a police minibus next to his 73 -year -old husband.
The couple, who once described themselves as small ‘C’ conservatives, traveled to the capitals near Chichester to protest and refused to tell their children what they were about to do.
Only a day later, his sons realized what had happened after seeing him in the news, suspended and besieged by the great officers.
In 2014, he had been following the conflict in the Middle East since Israel’s invasion of Gaza, but former Interior Minister Sueella Braverman became an active protest in November 2023 after he became an active protest.
“I’ve never been political or activist. I’m just ordinary, Middle-England, or he says. “But then I got angry.”
Hamas militants entered Israel and killed about 1,200 people and 251 more hostages, “shock” said the events, he said. “But later, the following actions, places where all families were erased, now I had to join those who call for a cease -fire,” he adds.
It has been believed that more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel started the retaliation atmosphere and abdominal attack in Gaza. Humanitarian aid organizations warned that 2.3 million Gaza residents are now killed effectively because they did not receive enough help to the settlement.
This week, Sir Keir Starmer warned that Britain would recognize the Palestinian state if Israel does not end the “terrible” war in Gaza. He called Israel to work for a cease -fire and a two -state solution.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Sir Keir of “rewarding Hamas’s terrible terrorism”. Ms. Mansfield rejected Sir Keir’s movement as çıcı executive rather than important ”.
The retired struggling with his own war for Gaza was arrested in the 12th and 13th episode of the 2000 Law of Terrorism, “I oppose the genocide, I support the Palestinian action”. The accusations are sentenced to a maximum of 14 years in prison.
The Palestinian action was banned as a terrorist organization after claiming the responsibility of the activists who sprayed red paint on the warplanes in Raf Brize Norton and made them illegal. The group put it in the same legal ranks as ISIS, al -Qaeda and Hamas, and led the critics to accuse the government of heavy hands.
Ms. Mansfield knew that there was a possibility of arrest, but he had no idea how the police would react when they kept banners to support Palestinian action outside the parliamentary houses and dozens of others. They were the first of the weekly protests that all resulted in arrests.
Police interview with a tired lady Mansfield, after asking more than 60 questions at around 2 o’clock, the counter -terrorist officer made a final statement.
“Look, even if you buy hundreds of people, thousands of people, we’re 30,000 strong, Mrs said Mrs. Mansfield. “We will put not only the police forces, but all our resources to arrest and question you.”
Then he allowed the “traumatized” pension to stay hundreds of miles away from the house. He was not accused of a crime.
A total of 385 deputies voted in favor of an unprecedented movement to blame the Palestinian action. Only 26 opponents.
The Minister of Interior, who announced the votes, said that the Palestinian action was guilty of “violence and serious criminal damage olmayan that does not form a“ legitimate protest olmak as the right to protest and free speech.
As a result, the Palestinian action was banned by a pro-Kremlin Ethno-Uluslu organization, which aims to create a white superior, Neo-Nazi organization and a new Russian imperial state called Maniacs murder cult.
Critics and human rights activists accused the government of violating the right to protest after rapid ban.
In a letter to Mrs. Cooper, the police monitoring network said: “To abuse the terrorism legislation against a protest group, it constitutes a dangerous precedent, threatens our democratic freedom and will be a terrible blow to our civilian freedoms.”
Meanwhile, a few United Nations Human Rights Specialist said that the criminal damage that does not endanger life is not serious enough to be described as terrorism ”.
On Wednesday, a judge decided to allow the Ministry of Interior to challenge the court on the prohibition of Palestinian action, but there may be months until the results.
As more protesters were arrested, the anger of the movement increased.
Special eye editor Ian Hislop, on July 19, 67 -year -old Jon Farley’de Leeds’te arrest, the magazine’s “mind -receiving” questioning the front page of the front page branded. Mr. Farley was not accused.
The case was stated by Mr. Justice Chamberlain on Wednesday as a reason to allow the Palestinian action to fight the prohibition. This is the proof of the “creepy effect üzerinde on those who want to express legitimate political views.
A total of more than 200 people have been detained since the ban. A single person was not blamed in England and Wales.
The vast majority are over 60 years of age, according to Tim Crosland, who campaign to defend our jury, which is currently supporting most of the detainees. He says that some protesters are “in his 80s ..
The police are aware of these optics. Ms. Mansfield claims that the interrogation of terrorism against the male even asked him at a stage: “Was this a conspiracy to make the police look bad?”
The truth says it is simpler: the seriousness of terror charges is an important deterrent for young protesters at the beginning of their careers; For retirees determined to take a posture, it is an excellent opportunity to take steps.
61 -year -old Robert Lee, who was arrested on July 5, but was not accused of supporting the demonstrators in Bristol, told him that a 83 -year -old woman told him that the police were very afraid to “be able to die in custody because I fear.”
However, the crowd of retired protesters is still full of young demonstrators, which shakes his head on a wide range of opposition against the prohibition of the Palestinian action.
For 18 -year -old Zara Ali, among the youngest people arrested, participation felt especially high risks. After blocking a path in March, he was already in guarantee to conspiracy to cause public distress. Not accused.
Im I was told to prepare myself for prison, ”he says, when he came to Parliament Square for the July 19 protest, he admitted that he was very“ worried ..
“But at the end of the day, I kept in mind that this is about Palestine and every political prisoner held, not about me.”
Independent He spoke to half a dozen protesters for this piece, all of them as the primary motivation of Israel’s participation in the Gaza war. The allegations that he points to a “dystopic” future in Britain were widely stated as key motivation.
The Ministry of Interior refrained from commenting.
