MLA condemns 'disgraceful' arrest of woman in Belfast after wearing Palestine Action t-shirt
Sinn Féin's Pat Sheehan described the arrest as 'disgraceful', whle Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland Director of Amnesty International UK, branded the PSNI's actions 'outrageous'.
The arrest, in the Linenhall Street area of the city centre on Saturday, came on the same day that almost 500 people were arrested in London at a protest in support of Palestine Action.
The group, which opposes the arms industry and Israel's occupation of Gaza, was proscribed earlier this year after spray-painting a plane at the RAF's Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire.
Saturday's arrest in Belfast came during a Refugees Welcome rally, which was being held at the same time as an anti-immigration protest in the city centre.
Footage shared online showed a PSNI officer telling the woman that she was being arrested under Article 13 of the Terrorism Act 'for possession of an article, namely a sign or on a T-shirt, that indicates support for Palestine Action'.
The woman, whose T-shirt read 'We Are All Palestine Action', was then picked up and put in a police van, as other protesters chanted: "Let her go."
The force later confirmed that a 62-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of possession of an article that indicates support for a proscribed organisation. 'Draconian legislation'
Following the arrest, Mr Sheehan accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of trying to silence criticism of Israel.
"The British Government's attempts to criminalise the Palestinian solidarity movement, and the subsequent actions of the PSNI in enforcing this draconian legislation, have been disgraceful," he said.
"While Keir Starmer continues to enable the ongoing Israeli genocide and starvation of Gazans, he is also moving to silence ordinary, decent people for speaking out.
"Just yesterday, Netanyahu announced his intention to seize Gaza City. Yet still, Starmer provides cover for this rogue regime, instead targeting activists for highlighting what should be a universal moral outrage.
"Like all previous censorship attempts by the British Government, which is totally out of step with the wider public, this too will fail.
"Highlighting the ongoing devastation in Gaza is not a crime. The real crime is Israel's policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide, aided and abetted by the US and Britain." 'Wholly disproportionate'
Those words were echoed by Amnesty International's Mr Corrigan, who said terrorism laws pose a risk to peaceful protest.
"The arrest of a protester in Belfast today under UK terrorism legislation is outrageous," he said.
"Peaceful protest is a basic human right. Many people are justifiably angered by the ongoing genocide in Gaza and are concerned about UK complicity. Under international human rights law, they have every right to voice their concerns.
"The individual who joined a Refugees Welcome rally in Belfast was not promoting violence, and it is wholly disproportionate for the PSNI to treat her as a terrorist.
"UK terrorism laws pose a serious risk to free expression. Rather than targeting peaceful protesters, the Government should be taking swift and decisive measures to end Israel's genocide."
Mr Corrigan added that a man from the anti-immigration protest was detained by police after a missile was thrown at the Refugees Welcome rally.
The PSNI confirmed a 43-year-old man had been arrested for disorderly behaviour and two other men were cautioned at the same location on suspicion of possession of an article that indicates support for a proscribed organisation.
In London, the Metropolitan Police arrested 474 people at a demonstration in support of Palestine Action.
Of those, 466 were detained under the Terrorism Act for support of a proscribed organisation.
"The protesters in Parliament Square were not inciting violence and it is entirely disproportionate to the point of absurdity to be treating them as terrorists," said Sacha Deshmukh, Chief Executive of Amnesty International UK.
See More: Palestine, Palestine Action
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
UN, EU condemn Israel's deadly strike on journalists in Gaza
Condemnations poured in from the United Nations, the EU and media rights groups after an Israeli strike killed an Al Jazeera news team in Gaza, as Palestinians mourned the journalists and Israel accused one of them of being a Hamas militant. Dozens of Gazans stood amid bombed-out buildings in the courtyard of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City to pay their respects to Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera correspondent aged 28, and four of his colleagues killed on Sunday. Hospital director Mohammed Abu Salmiya said a sixth journalist, freelance reporter Mohammed Al-Khaldi, was killed in the strike that targeted the Al Jazeera team. Mourners including men wearing blue journalists' flak jackets carried their bodies, wrapped in white shrouds with their faces exposed, through narrow alleys to their graves. Israel confirmed it had targeted Sharif, whom it labelled a "terrorist" affiliated with Hamas, alleging he "posed as a journalist". Al Jazeera said four other employees - correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa - were killed when the strike hit a tent set up for journalists outside the main gate of Al-Shifa. An Israeli military statement accused Sharif of heading a Hamas "terrorist cell" and being "responsible for advancing rocket attacks" against Israelis. The military released documents alleging to show the date of Sharif's enlistment with Hamas in 2013, an injury report from 2017 and the name of his military unit and rank. According to local journalists who knew him, Mr Sharif had worked at the start of his career with a Hamas communication office, where his role was to publicise events organised by the group that has ruled in Gaza since 2006. Mr Sharif was one of Al Jazeera's most recognisable faces working in Gaza, providing daily reports on the now 22-month-old war. Media freedom groups have condemned the Israeli strike on journalists, which the UN human rights agency called a "grave breach of international humanitarian law". The European Union's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that "the EU condemns the killing of five Al Jazeera journalists." 'Attempt to silence' A posthumous message, written by Mr Sharif in April in case of his death, was published online saying he had been silenced and urging people "not to forget Gaza". In July, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for his protection following online posts by an Israeli military spokesman. The group had accused Israel of a "pattern" of labelling journalists militants "without providing credible evidence", and said the military had levelled similar accusations against media workers in Gaza including Al Jazeera staff. "International law is clear that active combatants are the only justified targets in a war setting," Jodie Ginsberg, CPJ's chief executive, told AFP. Unless Israel "can demonstrate that Anas al-Sharif was still an active combatant, then there is no justification for his killing." Al Jazeera called the attack "a desperate attempt to silence voices exposing the Israeli occupation", and described Sharif as "one of Gaza's bravest journalists". The Qatari broadcaster also said the strike followed "repeated incitement" and calls by Israeli officials to target Sharif and his colleagues. Reporters Without Borders says nearly 200 journalists have been killed in the war, which was sparked by Hamas's deadly October 2023 attack on Israel. Israel prevents international reporters from entering Gaza, except on occasional tightly controlled trips with the military. The strike on the news team in Gaza City came days after the Israeli security cabinet approved plans to send troops into the area, a decision met with mounting domestic and international criticism. 'Another calamity' Mr Netanyahu said the military will conquer the remaining quarter or so of the territory not yet controlled by Israeli troops - including much of Gaza City and Al-Mawasi, an Israeli-designated safe zone where huge numbers of Palestinians have sought refuge. The plan, which Israeli media reported had triggered bitter disagreement between the government and military leadership, drew condemnation from protesters in Israel and numerous countries, including Israeli allies. Notably Germany, a major weapons supplier and staunch ally, announced the suspension of shipments of any arms that could be used in Gaza. Mr Netanyahu has remained defiant, telling journalists that "we will win the war, with or without the support of others." The United Nations and humanitarian agencies have condemned the planned offensive, which UN Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca said "will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza". UN agencies warned last month that famine was unfolding in the territory, with Israel severely restricting aid entry. Israel's offensive has killed at least 61,499 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, figures the United Nations says are reliable. Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Irish Examiner view: Ireland must take action on this escalation in racist attacks
The recent spate of attacks on members of the Indian community in Ireland has rightly shocked Irish people unused to experiencing the naked hatred illustrated by such behaviour. On Monday, Tánaiste and foreign affairs minister Simon Harris met members of the 80,000-strong Indian community in Ireland to express his horror and disgust at recent attacks but the unease within that community at the outbreaks of violence against them is palpable and growing. While he tried to assure them that as the attacks are racially motivated, they will not be allowed to continue, his words may not stem the reputational damage being caused to Ireland. The attacks have left a data scientist, a taxi driver, and a sous chef with, respectively, a broken cheekbone, 12 stitches, and in need of hospital treatment. That was bad enough, but when a soon-to-be tech worker was beaten, stabbed, robbed, and partially stripped in Tallaght, newly anti Indian sentiments took on a more sinister tone. And when a six-year-old Irish Indian girl was attacked by a group of boys twice her age in Waterford last week, the matter became even more grave. The reaction in India itself has been swift and sharp. Rarely does Ireland feature much in the Indian media, but these attacks have attracted much press attention and, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs, caused 'damage' to the State's reputation there. What we have witnessed in recent weeks is an alarming escalation in the frequency and brutality of attacks on Indian people and it must not be tolerated. That Indians, or any other race for that matter, in Ireland have become fearful for their safety is not acceptable. Irish authorities must act decisively, rapidly, and visibly to prevent any normalisation of hate crimes such as those we have witnessed, otherwise our reputation as a safe and hospitable society risks losing credibility. Another new low for Israel Much as the horror of what has been unfolding in Gaza in recent weeks, where it has become normal for crowds of starving Palestinians to be routinely shot at and killed by members of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), the deliberate targeting of journalists was another new low. The killing of Al Jazeera news anchor Anas Al-Sharif and four members of his team brought the number of Palestinian journalists killed in the conflict to 186, of whom 178 were Palestinian reporters killed by Israel. Award-winning journalist Anas al-Sharif was one of five Al Jazeera staff killed by an Israeli drone strike on their tent in Gaza on Sunday. Picture: Al Jazeera/AP Although these figures are piffling by comparison with the horrifying numbers of civilian deaths, reporting on the conflict has, over the course of the 22-month Israeli onslaught on the 2.3m people in Gaza, become a deadly business. With no foreign journalists allowed to enter the territory by Israel to report independently, coverage has been left to Palestinian journalists who are under the same threat of personal targeting and must endure the same conditions as other civilians. Anas Al-Sharif was the recipient of Amnesty International Australia's Human Rights Defender Award in 2024 for his 'resilience, bravery, and commitment to press freedom while working in the most dangerous conditions'. It was not just dangerous for him. His father was killed, his house bombed, he was under continual threat of being targeted by the IDF. Those Palestinian journalists who have braved the Israeli onslaught have to endure aerial bombing, drone attacks, shootings, and forcible relocation. They face the same daily scramble for food and water supplies — not to mention accommodation — as everyone else in the territory. National Union of Journalists Dublin broadcasting branch chairwoman Emma O'Kelly, centre, with NUJ members including general secretary Seamus Dooley, right, at a rally on Dublin's O'Connell St protesting Israel's killing of journalists in Palestine. Picture: Niall Carson/PA The accusation from Israel that Mr Al-Sharif was a Hamas operative can be considered as little other than another cheap shot from an administration in Tel Aviv trying desperately to justify its increasingly genocidal intentions. In his last post from Gaza, Mr Al-Sharif decried the world's failure to stop the 'massacre'. Sadly, he is now just another number in the litany of the dead. What's your view on this issue? You can tell us here Ukraine should not be left out of talks Donald Trump's shadowy diplomacy is once more in danger of leaving Ukraine on the outside looking in, when he meets with Vladimir Putin in Alaska next Friday to discuss ending a war the Russian president started. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy cannot be left outside the proposed Alaska talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. File picture: Heinz-Peter Bader/AP What is widely understood, at this point of the conflict, is that ending it is fully in the US president's hands, but his unwillingness to impose the necessary sanctions on Moscow up until now suggests the Alaska talks will end up being a diplomatic coup for the Kremlin. Already, Trump's shift from frustration with Putin's intransigence on stopping deadly air raids on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, to wanting to sit down and talk through conditions for ending the conflict, appear to have dealt the winning cards to Putin. The softened White House rhetoric on sanctioning Russia to a punitive degree has not eased Moscow's increasingly vituperative stance on Ukraine being included in the Alaska summit. What Russia wants is a deal on its terms — agreed to by Washington and Moscow, and imposed on Ukraine. That the significance of a trilateral meeting is being actively downplayed by Moscow underscored the importance both warring factions attach to meeting Trump first, and the perceived benefits such a situation would confer. Russia has, since Trump's election, pressed for a US-Russia deal to end the war on their terms and deliberately cold-shouldering both Ukraine and the rest of Europe. The worry now is that, for all his talk of 'disgusting' air raids on Ukraine and his description of Putin as 'crazy', Trump has yet to put any pressure at all on Russia. Damage after a Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Wednesday. Picture: Ukrainian Emergency Service/AP The fear is that Ukraine will be sidelined from the Alaska summit and Putin, yet again, will walk away with an agreement which will not deliver any kind of just, sustainable, or lasting peace. The Trump administration cannot allow that to happen. If Putin manages to keep Trump on the negotiating merry-go-round, it will not be in America's best national interests, nor those of Kyiv.
Sunday World
5 hours ago
- Sunday World
Sinn Féin appoints new councillor who had told cops he'd ‘shoot them with machine-gun'
Ruaídhrí Lyttle stepped down and apologised back in 2023 after disturbing comments he made during a drunken rant at the police resurfaced Sinn Féin has appointed a new councillor who pulled out of the last election after it emerged he'd been to court for telling cops he'd 'shoot them with a machine-gun', it has emerged. Ruaídhrí Lyttle stepped down and apologised back in 2023 after disturbing comments he made during a drunken rant at the police resurfaced. West Tyrone Sinn Féin MP Órfhlaith Begley announced on Friday night that 30-year-old Lyttle was being co-opted onto Fermanagh and Omagh District Council to represent the Gortin and Killyclogher area of Mid-Tyrone. She wrote: 'Delighted to welcome our new councillor Ruaídhrí Lytlle [sic] for the Gortin and Killyclogher area of Mid Tyrone. 'I also want to thank our outgoing councillor Anne Marie Fitzgerald for her many years of commitment and service. 'During her 18 years as a councillor, Anne Marie has been a first-class representative and a tireless worker on behalf of the community she has represented.' And Lyttle himself said: 'This evening, I am taking the opportunity to announce my co-option as the Sinn Féin cllr for Mid Tyrone in place of Anne Marie Fitzgerald, who has offered her resignation after serving the local community with distinction for over 18 years. 'I would like to acknowledge the dedication, hard work and commitment to this role that Anne Marie has given for the last 18 years. I am determined to serve in this role as cllr for Mid Tyrone in the same manner. 'I am determined to bring the same energy and commitment to this role as Anne Marie has. I am determined to campaign tirelessly for local people on local issues. I look forward to the challenges ahead and to representing you all.' Despite a chequered past, Lyttle is highly regarded in Sinn Féin and is known for working hard on the ground on a number of issues. And despite his misdemeanours, his announcement has been widely welcomed among nationalists in Tyrone. In April 2023 in the run-up to the local council elections we revealed (right) how Lyttle, who had been standing for the republican party in the Mid-Tyrone area, had been involved in an embarrassing incident six years ago which resulted in him being brought to court. In response, Lyttle told the Sunday World he didn't want the issue to become a 'distraction' for his 'party colleagues' and he had decided to step down. We had revealed that Lyttle, who lives in Omagh, was convicted of disorderly behaviour on a boozy night out in the County Tyrone town two days before Christmas in 2017. And things took a decidedly nasty turn when Lyttle, who was 23 at the time, approached police officers and started to shout abuse at them, including telling them he would 'shoot them with a machine-gun'. Police in Omagh are particularly sensitive to such threats — however unlikely they are to be carried out—– given that dissident republicans murdered PC Ronan Kerr in Omagh in 2011. Lyttle announced his plan to stand for election six days after DCI John Caldwell survived a murder bid at the hands of two dissident republican gunmen in February and he was hoping to be elected to represent the Killyclogher and Gortin areas — to which is now being co-opted. In a statement at the time he told the Sunday World: 'I apologised in court a number of years ago for my behaviour and accept fully that my actions were wrong. 'My role in this incident remains a matter of deep regret. I don't want this issue to become a distraction for my party colleagues and in light of this, I have reconsidered my position. 'I have decided to withdraw my name from standing in this year's local government elections.' Sources who know Lyttle told us they were 'surprised' he jumped so quickly. 'I'm very surprised he's decided to drop out over this,' said one source. 'It was obviously an embarrassing incident but it was six years ago and he has apologised. 'Ruaídhrí would have been a good council rep but he obviously had a past and he'd been done for being disorderly a few times so maybe he was worried about the details of all of those coming out.' Lyttle was arrested and brought before District Judge Bernie Kelly, who told him he couldn't blame alcohol for his shocking outburst, his behaviour had been 'despicable' and that he had exposed 'the true Ruaídhrí Lyttle'. He was fined £100 for the drunken outburst. But Omagh Magistrates Court was told in 2017 Lyttle had two previous cautions for disorderly behaviour. His solicitor told the court Lyttle had consumed 'a lot of alcohol' and clearly hadn't learned his lesson from the previous cautions'. Judge Kelly was less than impressed with Lyttle's behaviour, saying: 'I genuinely never know where to start with someone like you. 'You were three years old when the Good Friday Agreement was signed. How much personal experience do you have of the Troubles?' A sheepish Lyttle replied a simple 'none', to which the judge asked: 'So what gives you the right to make such comments about police officers?' Shame-faced Lyttle replied: 'I don't have any.' But Judge Kelly wasn't finished with Lyttle. She added: 'Alcohol does not turn you from Doctor Jekyll to Mr Hyde. If it was not in you it would not come out. Alcohol pulls down the facades. 'That was the true Ruaídhrí Lyttle we saw that night. It was despicable behaviour. I promise you there will be an entirely different outcome if I see you again.'
