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Palestine Action ban: when does parliament vote take place?

Palestine Action ban: when does parliament vote take place?

Anyone doing so could face up to 14 years in prison, with previously proscribed organisations including ISIS, Al Qa'ida, and National Action.
Here's what you need to know.
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What is happening?
Following an act of vandalism by the group Palestine Action at RAF Brize Norton, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper wants to proscribe the group as a terrorist organisation.
Doing so would make it an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison to belong to or support the group.
She also cited an action by the group at the Thales factory in Glasgow which is said to have caused £1million of damage and frightened some staff.
She will put the proscription order before parliament today, with two far-right groups, the Maniacs Murder Cult (MMC) and the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), also included.
The Georgian leader of the MMC, Michail Chkhikvishvili, was extradited to the US earlier this year on charges of soliciting hate crimes and acts of mass violence in New York City, including a plot for the mass poisoning of Jewish people.
The RIM is a white nationalist group which seeks to restore the Russian Empire and denies the holocaust took place.
Can MPs vote to ban some of the groups and not others?
No, they have to either back the proscription as a whole or reject it.
Palestine Action believes the fact two neo-Nazi groups have been included in the order is a deliberate move to ensure the order passes - an MP voting against could then be accused of having not voted to ban the Maniacs Murder Cult and the Russian Imperial Movement.
Protestors supporting Palestine Action When is the vote?
The vote is due to take place in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon, probably around 5.30pm.
If it passes, which it is expected to, it would then go before the House of Lords the following day.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper would then sign the ban into law on Friday, making it a criminal offence to support or be a member of Palestine Action from Saturday.
Is it being challenged?
Yes, Palestine Action has been granted an emergency hearing at the High Court on Friday.
If the group is granted interim relief, it would delay the order coming into effect.
PA is also seeking to have any potential decision overturned, with a provisional hearing at the High Court set for July 21.
What has the government said?
Ms Cooper said: "National security is the first duty of any government, we will always take the action needed to protect our democracy and national security against different threats.
"Maniacs Murder Cult, Palestine Action and the Russian Imperial Movement have each passed the threshold for proscription based on clear national security evidence and assessments.
"The right to protest and the right to free speech are the cornerstone of our democracy and there are countless campaign groups that freely exercise those rights. Violence and serious criminal damage has no place in legitimate protests."
What have other people said?
Many have pointed out that Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, once defended a man who had attempted to set a military jet on fire to prevent it from joining the aerial bombardment of Iraq.
Others have argued that none of the actions taken by Palestine Action should be classed as terrorism.
A group of United Nations experts said: "We are concerned at the unjustified labelling of a political protest movement as 'terrorist'.
"According to international standards, acts of protest that damage property, but are not intended to kill or injure people, should not be treated as terrorism.'
Amnesty International UK said in an open letter to MPs: "The question before parliament is not whether MPs think that Palestine Actions' approach is tasteful or distasteful, or even effective or ineffective.
"If Palestine Action is proscribed this week, by the weekend any MP's constituents wearing a Palestine Action sticker, badge or T-shirt could face a terrorism charge. Do MPs and peers really believe that Palestine Action's activities justify such a grave misuse of anti-terrorism powers?
'The proscription of Palestine Action would be wholly unnecessary, disproportionate, and in violation of the right to freedom of association and expression amongst other human rights at risk should this harmful and dangerous motion proceed.'
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