Woman arrested after Palestine Action rally denies assault charges in court
A woman who was arrested after a demonstration in support of the soon-to-be-banned group Palestine Action has denied charges of assault.
Lavina Richards, 37, of Hackney, north-east London, appeared before a judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday charged with two counts of assaulting a police constable in the execution of their duty.
Richards is accused of assaulting two Metropolitan Police officers at the Trafalgar Square march on Monday when several protesters clashed with police, resulting in 13 arrests for offences including assaulting an emergency worker, obstructing a constable and breaching Public Order Act conditions.
Richards, who appeared in the dock wearing a large black T-shirt, pleaded not guilty on both counts.
District Judge Briony Clarke told her the case will be listed for trial at City of London Magistrates' Court on December 12.
She was granted bail until the trial date.
A handful of pro-Palestine activists stood outside the court waving a Palestinian flag, and sat in the public gallery during the hearing in support of Richards.
Another six people were charged following the rally, including Liam Mizrahi, 25, of no fixed address, who faces one count of a racially aggravated public order offence.
Eleanor Simmonds, 31, also of no fixed address, was charged with assaulting an emergency worker and was bailed to appear at Croydon Magistrates' Court on July 25.
Bipasha Tahsin, 21, of Pinchin Street, Tower Hamlets, was charged with assaulting an emergency worker. She was bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on July 8.
Matthew Holbrook, 59, of Somerhill Road, Hove, Tom Jubert, 40, of Chippendale Street, Hackney, and Hafeza Choudhury, 28, of Berkeley Path, Luton, were charged with breaching Public Order Act conditions and were bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on July 21.
The protest had initially been planned to take place outside the Houses of Parliament, but the location was changed early on Monday morning when Scotland Yard imposed an exclusion zone.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement on Monday afternoon that she has decided to proscribe Palestine Action and will lay an order before Parliament next week which, if passed, will make membership and support for the protest group illegal.
Belonging to or expressing support for a proscribed organisation, along with a number of other actions, are criminal offences carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The decision comes after the group posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
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The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Treasonous scrotes Palestine Action did £15m damage to RAF planes – so WHY do Labour bigwigs think they're so lovely?
A WARNING to Vladimir Putin. The fence at RAF Brize Norton is almost six feet high. Also, it's made of wood. So don't try anything. It's an absolutely impenetrable barrier. Do your worst and you won't get through. Ha, ha, ha! 11 11 You will have heard of the break-in at RAF Brize Norton, with millions of pounds worth of damage done to some air-to-air refuelling planes. One of them may be put out of action entirely. The first scandal is that the two odious little middle-class scrotes from Palestine Action were not shot while they carried out this act of treason. Nobody could be bothered to keep one of our most vital aircraft bases secure. No wonder the Israelis consider us 'unreliable allies'. The second scandal is that nothing had been done about Palestine Action before they broke into the base. This group of extremist morons have carried out plenty of acts of sabotage against companies. Causing millions of pounds worth of damage. But nobody thought to put them on the naughty list. The list of terrorist groups. Yet that's what they are. They are violent enemies of the United Kingdom. And they've caused more damage of late than, say, al-Qaeda. The argument goes that people have a right to protest. Well, sure, so they do. But protesting is standing in a stupid keffiyeh shouting 'I hate Israel!' It is not carrying out acts of violence against the state. We call that terrorism. In fact, the attack on RAF Brize Norton was even worse than that. It was treason. And until very recently that carried the death sentence. Sir Keir Starmer has at last proscribed Palestine Action. Way too late in the day, but at least he's done it. Starmer, however, has the Labour Party to contend with. A party that is full of people who hate this country more even than they hate their own dismal, pointless lives. Some 11 MPs have objected to Palestine Action being classed as a terrorist group. They include, as you might expect, the usual morons from the Green Party and Plaid Cymru. But there are quite a few Labour names on that list. One of them is the revolting Coventry MP, Zarah Sultana. She made a typically idiotic comment. 'We are all Palestine Action,' she hooted. Well, no we're not. And that comment will soon put you on the wrong side of the law. Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn also think Palestine Action is just tickety-boo, a loveable bunch of little squirrels. That's because, like the ludicrous Sultana, they loathe Israel and hate the UK almost as much. Richard Burgon, thick as a plate of mince, is standing by the group too. So what PM Sir Keir Starmer should do now is suspend him from the party. And make sure the likes of Abbott are never allowed back in. Because while Starmer did a decent job of ridding his front bench of the ultra-left-wing mentalists who thrived under Magic Grandpa, they are still knocking about. Be clear that any MP who supports a terrorist organisation will not be a Labour MP any longer. And hey, Keir . . . maybe add another foot or two to that fence around Brize Norton? FAR TOO TOUGH ON LUCY JUST what the hell is happening with poor Lucy Connolly? She shouldn't be in prison at all. And once there she should certainly have made parole. Lucy is the Tory councillor's missus who tweeted something horrible during last year's summer riots. People shouldn't go to jail for tweeting things. But now there are claims that she is being seriously mistreated in prison. Reform's Richard Tice visited her and said: 'Lucy has bruises on her wrists, five days on from being violently manhandled by a group of aggressive guards who forced her into a wing riddled with drugs and violent women.' Seems very much like she is being persecuted, first by the Government and now by the prison authorities. OH gawd, no! It's Glasto! The best part of a week of the BBC trying desperately to be hip. Like your dad pretending he knows who Charli XCX is. Did you know the average age of people attending is now thought to be approximately 45? That's about 20 years older than when the thing kicked off, in 1970. It's because a large tranche of the boomers and Gen X refuse to grow up. BARNES BLOW 11 POOR old John Barnes. The England footballing legend was banned from being a company director for three and a half years last year. His media company has run up £1.5million debts. There is no money to pay the creditors. A brilliant footballer – we all remember that goal against Brazil – he seems to have the business nous of an Airedale terrier. But then he finished playing just before the really, really, big wages started. I fear we're going to see John lower himself still further by doing all sorts of sleb stuff on the TV . . . MERGE OR DIE, TORIES HAVE you seen the latest mega-poll by political consultancy Electoral Calculus? It shows that Reform would likely have a comfortable majority in the House of Commons. 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Because otherwise, one of the two parties is a dead duck. And right now that looks like being the Tories, no matter how admirable Kemi Badenoch might be. S-MART MOVE HERO of the week is the BBC presenter Martine Croxall. Reading the news, she corrected her script from saying 'pregnant people' to 'women'. Well done Martine. The BBC, meanwhile, has said it won't take action against her. I should hope not. What it should take action against is the moron who used the terminology 'pregnant people'. Either send them on a course where they learn how to write English. Or save some money and sack them, on the spot. FOR ALL THE OLD DUDES… BYE, MICK THIS is for people, like me, of a certain age. There were no great fanfares for the passing of guitarist Mick Ralphs. He deserved better. Mick helped define the sound of two of the UK's top rock bands in the 1970s. First Mott The Hoople, with their brilliant run of singles including Honaloochie Boogie. And then with the supergroup Bad Company, led by Paul Rodgers. He was an enormous talent – never a showy guitarist, he just did what was right for the songs. Songs he was usually involved in writing. RIP Mick. You will be missed.
North Wales Chronicle
3 hours ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Woman arrested after Palestine Action rally denies assault charges in court
Lavina Richards, 37, of Hackney, north-east London, appeared before a judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday charged with two counts of assaulting a police constable in the execution of their duty. Richards is accused of assaulting two Metropolitan Police officers at the Trafalgar Square march on Monday when several protesters clashed with police, resulting in 13 arrests for offences including assaulting an emergency worker, obstructing a constable and breaching Public Order Act conditions. Richards, who appeared in the dock wearing a large black T-shirt, pleaded not guilty on both counts. District Judge Briony Clarke told her the case will be listed for trial at City of London Magistrates' Court on December 12. She was granted bail until the trial date. A handful of pro-Palestine activists stood outside the court waving a Palestinian flag, and sat in the public gallery during the hearing in support of Richards. Another six people were charged following the rally, including Liam Mizrahi, 25, of no fixed address, who faces one count of a racially aggravated public order offence. Eleanor Simmonds, 31, also of no fixed address, was charged with assaulting an emergency worker and was bailed to appear at Croydon Magistrates' Court on July 25. Bipasha Tahsin, 21, of Pinchin Street, Tower Hamlets, was charged with assaulting an emergency worker. She was bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on July 8. Matthew Holbrook, 59, of Somerhill Road, Hove, Tom Jubert, 40, of Chippendale Street, Hackney, and Hafeza Choudhury, 28, of Berkeley Path, Luton, were charged with breaching Public Order Act conditions and were bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on July 21. The protest had initially been planned to take place outside the Houses of Parliament, but the location was changed early on Monday morning when Scotland Yard imposed an exclusion zone. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement on Monday afternoon that she has decided to proscribe Palestine Action and will lay an order before Parliament next week which, if passed, will make membership and support for the protest group illegal. Belonging to or expressing support for a proscribed organisation, along with a number of other actions, are criminal offences carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. The decision comes after the group posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. The clip shows one person riding an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker and appearing to spray paint into its jet engine.
North Wales Chronicle
3 hours ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Grandmothers arrested at Palestine protest ‘robustly deny any criminal offence'
Sue Pentel and Martine McCullough were arrested earlier this year by police investigating an incident of criminal damage at a Barclays Bank in the city. Ms Pentel, 72, was detained by officers along with Martine McCullough, aged in her 50s, on May 24 while protesting outside the bank in Castle Place over an incident at a previous protest at the bank on April 26. The two attended Musgrave Street police station in Belfast city centre on Wednesday morning for the pre-arranged interview under caution. Fellow campaigners staged a protest in solidarity with the women outside the station, with applause and calls of 'we're with you' as they arrived. Solicitor Padraig O Muirigh, who represents the two women, said they 'robustly deny that they have committed any criminal offence'. 'Our clients have been involved in peaceful protests against the ongoing genocide in Gaza which has been ongoing now for 628 days,' he said. 'Today's interviews under caution follow their arrests on the 24th May 2025. 'My clients robustly deny that they have committed any criminal offence and maintain that they should not be subjected to criminal investigations for exercising their right to peaceful protest against the atrocities being committed in Gaza.' He added: 'Our clients will robustly contest their innocence and defend their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights to freedom of assembly and expression if a decision is made to prosecute them.' Jewish grandmother Ms Pentel is a high-profile campaigner against Israel's military offensive on Gaza. Videos circulated online of the arrest of Ms Pentel indicate the alleged offence related to the placing of stickers on the bank's ATM machine. Barclays has been a target for pro-Palestine protesters who claim the bank is linked to companies supplying weapons to Israel. Barclays has previously addressed the criticism, saying it provides financial services to nine defence companies supplying Israel but does not directly invest in such firms. The bank has said it has become the target of a disinformation campaign over its ties to defence companies. Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Ms Pentel said they are 'proud to peacefully protest outside Barclays'. 'We've been doing it for the last eight months,' she said. 'To protest the genocide, to protest the violence, to protest the way that Israel feels its OK to starve children, to stop humanitarian aid while the world looks on. 'Well, we won't look on, we won't remain silent.' She added: 'We understand that we've been asked to be interviewed under caution, and we're voluntarily going in about an incident on April 26 and all we can say is we're proud to demonstrate with our amazing colleagues every week outside Barclays. 'We have the right to peacefully protest, we want to thank our solicitor Padraig O Muirigh for his time and advice. 'We have the right to peacefully protest and we will continue to do it until the genocide stops. 'We're two grandmothers, when our grandchildren ask us what we did, we know what we'll say, we stood up, we spoke out, we weren't silent, and as a Jewish person I am absolutely ashamed of anybody either Israeli Jewish or London Jewish or wherever who doesn't stand up and who thinks this is OK.'
