
Seven charged after protesters clash with police at Palestine Action rally
Of the others arrested at the Trafalgar Square march, one has been cautioned and the remainder either bailed or released under investigation, the force added.
Police block the way of people taking part in a demonstration in central in London (PA)
'While the protest initially began in a peaceful manner, officers faced violence when they went into the crowd to speak to three individuals whose behaviour was arousing suspicion,' a Met Police spokesperson said.
'This sequence of events repeated itself on multiple occasions, with officers being surrounded on each occasion they tried to deal with an incident.'
The road at one corner of the square was completely blocked, with a line of police ready to stop the participants from leaving the area.
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.
After Monday's protest, Liam Mizrahi, 25, of no fixed address, was charged with a racially aggravated public order offence, and was remanded to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.
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.
Lavina Richards, 37, of Elsdale Street, Hackney was charged with two counts of assaulting an emergency worker and was remanded to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.
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.
A 31-year-old woman received a caution for assaulting an emergency worker.
Palestine Action has staged a series of demonstrations in recent months, including spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalising US president Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Iran accused of 'hiding nuclear weapon ingredients' as Trump's ceasefire remains
The ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran hangs in the balance only hours after it was announced by President Trump - and an expert warned Iran may be hiding 'thousands of nuclear bomb supplies' Only two hours after President Trump had announced a ceasefire had been struck between Israel and Iran - peace was hanging in the balance. Israel accused Iran of sending missiles - something it denied - and launched counterstrikes, despite the US President urging them not to act. "Do not drop those bombs. If you do it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home, now," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, before unleashing a sweary rant about the two countries to reporters. When asked about reports Iran had broken the ceasefire and Israel's response, Trump said, "I'm not sure they did it intentionally. They couldn't reign people back. I don't like the fact that Israel went out this morning, and I'm going to see if I can stop it. As soon as I get away from you, I'm going to see if I can stop it." He added: "We have two countries that have fought for so long and so hard that they don't know what the f*** they're doing." Since then, the ceasefire seems to be tentatively holding. The US waded into the conflict with its own strikes against three of Iran's nuclear facilities: Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordo. Using 125 US aircraft and so-called 'Bunker Buster' bombs, the attack is said by Trump to have done significant damage to Iran's nuclear capabilities, with the President calling them "obliterated'. However, a recently leaked intelligence report from the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency has claimed that the strikes have not done anywhere near as much damage as Trump claimed and only set Iran back a few months from developing a nuclear weapon. An expert speaking to The Telegraph echoed these sentiments, claiming that it is likely Iran had far more supplies to create nuclear weapons hidden away. "I'm sure they have a hidden place somewhere with some hundreds, if not thousands of centrifuge[s] and they have material all there in several places all over Iran,' said Sara Shine, who previously worked within the Israeli military for three decades, and is reported to be an expert on Iran's nuclear programme. She added: 'They cannot do anything now, tomorrow, but in the future, they have all the capabilities [to build a bomb]". Whilst she didn't doubt the US strikes - dubbed Operation Midnight - did serious damage to the three targeted facilities, she believes that further caches will likely exist. "The [known] sites in themselves, for the time being, are not a lot of threat", the former research director for Mossad was quoted as saying. "The problem is, as you know, the material and the advanced centrifuges that I'm sure they have somewhere". However, another source said that whilst it was likely the expert was right that further enriched uranium is kept in other places by Iran, the facilities to further enrich it to weapons-grade, or indeed build a weapon had been "significantly damaged". Iran responded to the US strikes with what has been called a carefully choreographed attack on a US military base in Qatar. Advanced warning was given of the strike, and there were no injuries - with some experts claiming that the restrained measure allowed Iran to save face, but also provided an "off-ramp" for de-escalation.


South Wales Guardian
an hour ago
- South Wales Guardian
Iran executes three prisoners accused of spying for Israel
The hangings happened in Urmia Prison in Iran's West Azerbaijan province, the country's most north-west province, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. IRNA said Iran's judiciary claimed the men had been accused of bringing 'assassination equipment' into the country. Iran has carried out several hangings during its war with Israel, sparking fears from activists that it could conduct a wave of executions after the conflict ended. Iran identified the three men executed as Azad Shojaei, Edris Aali and Iraqi national Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul. Amnesty International had previously raised concerns that the men could be executed. Wednesday's executions bring the total number of hangings for espionage around the war up to six since June 16. Activists fear more people will be executed, particularly after Iran's theocracy issued a deadline for people to turn themselves in over spying. People in Iran, meanwhile, began trying to return to their normal lives as a shaky ceasefire with Israel, negotiated by US President Donald Trump, appeared to be holding. State media described heavy traffic around the Caspian Sea area and other rural areas outside of the capital, Tehran, as people began returning to the city. Tehran experienced intense Israeli airstrikes throughout the war, including those that targeted Iran's top military leadership and other sites associated with its ruling theocracy.


The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Iran executes three prisoners accused of spying for Israel
IRNA said Iran's judiciary claimed the men had been accused of bringing 'assassination equipment' into the country. Iran has carried out several hangings during its war with Israel, sparking fears from activists that it could conduct a wave of executions after the conflict ended. Iran identified the three men executed as Azad Shojaei, Edris Aali and Iraqi national Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul. People began to return to their normal lives as a ceasefire with Israel appeared to be holding (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP) Amnesty International had previously raised concerns that the men could be executed. Wednesday's executions bring the total number of hangings for espionage around the war up to six since June 16. Activists fear more people will be executed, particularly after Iran's theocracy issued a deadline for people to turn themselves in over spying. People in Iran, meanwhile, began trying to return to their normal lives as a shaky ceasefire with Israel, negotiated by US President Donald Trump, appeared to be holding. State media described heavy traffic around the Caspian Sea area and other rural areas outside of the capital, Tehran, as people began returning to the city. Tehran experienced intense Israeli airstrikes throughout the war, including those that targeted Iran's top military leadership and other sites associated with its ruling theocracy.