UK police ban Palestine Action protest outside parliament
FILE PHOTO: The Houses of Parliament are seen during a sunset in London, Britain, November 4, 2019. REUTERS/Yara Nardi/ File Photo
LONDON - British police have banned campaign group Palestine Action from protesting outside parliament on Monday, a rare move that comes after two of its members broke into a military base last week and as the government considers banning the organisation.
The group said in response that it had changed the location of its protest on Monday to Trafalgar Square, which lies just outside the police exclusion zone.
The pro-Palestinian organisation is among groups that have regularly targeted defence firms and other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza.
British media have reported that the government is considering proscribing, or effectively banning, Palestine Action, as a terrorist organisation, putting it on a par with al-Qaeda or ISIS.
London's Metropolitan Police said late on Sunday that it would impose an exclusion zone for a protest planned by Palestine Action outside the Houses of Parliament - a popular location for protests in support of a range of causes.
"The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest," Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said.
"We have laid out to Government the operational basis on which to consider proscribing this group."
Palestine Action's members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer and, in the incident last week, damaged two military aircraft, Rowley added. REUTERS
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