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Middle East Eye
3 days ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
'Like a kidnapping': How UK police are hunting pro-Palestine activists
At 7am on 6 March, three men turned up at Lujane's door. They said they were from the British Transport Police (BTP) and asked her to come for an interview regarding a video in which, several months before, she had been seen chanting pro-Palestine chants on the London Underground. Lujane, a Welsh activist who had been organising for Palestine solidarity in Cardiff since October 2023, was accustomed to being closely monitored by the police. But the men standing at her front door were in plain clothes and did not have a warrant. "It was quite scary, because they didn't really look like police officers. I don't remember them saying I was under arrest. They just said, 'You need to come with us for an interview'," Lujane told Middle East Eye. "I completely panicked, because it's three men who don't really look like police officers. They're casually dressed, and they're saying they were British Transport Police. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "They didn't really give me a chance. They ended up coming into the house after I asked them not to. And then they said, 'You have to come with us'. And they stood at the door until I got dressed." Lujane is one of a growing number of pro-Palestine activists in the UK who have experienced harassment and intimidation by police since the launch of Israel's war on Gaza in the wake of the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023. Activists have reported being followed, having their homes raided, and even receiving calls to personal mobiles from police officers, in what police watchdog Netpol describes as a "pattern of intimidation." Netpol has said that raids targeting activists' homes have become "the norm." In one instance, two activists were subject to a violent police raid and faced criminal proceedings after questioning their local MP over their stance on Israel. A police officer holds a pro-Palestine demonstrator in London, 4 June 2025 (Isabel Infantes/Reuters) When Lujane's legal representative arrived at Wembley police station, on the outskirts of northwest London, she asked why the police needed to come directly to her house rather than send a letter. The police responded that it was necessary as Lujane had been going back and forth between London and Wales. "We don't know how they knew that I'd been going back between London and Wales," she said. "So they have, to an extent, been monitoring me." But this was not new to Lujane. Back in Wales, she and the small circle of activists she organised with were regularly followed and approached by police, who would call them by their first names. 'It was quite scary because they didn't really look like police officers. I don't remember them saying I was under arrest' - Lujane, Palestine solidarity activist This continued after she moved to London, with the Met, the capital's police force, closely mirroring the behaviour of the South Wales police. Once every couple of weeks a police officer would approach her and call her by her first name. "I was walking home a couple of months ago, and a police officer saw me by the corner shop. They said, 'Fancy seeing you here, haven't seen you for a while, I didn't know you lived here'," she said. Twenty-six days after the raid at her home, the police informed Lujane they were dropping the case. "It usually takes a month to investigate. It just goes to show it was purely harassment," the activist said. When contacted for comment, the British Transport Police (BTP) said: "Police are able to enter without a warrant to arrest someone if they are suspected of an indictable offence (a racially aggravated public order offence as in this case), and officers have reasonable grounds to believe they are in the property." While BTP say Lujane was under arrest, she does not remember the officers stating this. Her solicitor has requested bodycam footage from the police. In a video shot by Lujane on her phone and seen by MEE, the police are heard saying: "There's been an allegation of racial harassment that took place last year aboard a District line train. Your name's come up as part of this ongoing investigation, therefore we've been asked to bring you down to the police station to be questioned about your involvement." "Police are only allowed to enter a home without a warrant under very specific circumstances," Kat Hobbs, a spokesperson for the Network for Police Monitoring, or Netpol, told MEE. "There is no reason for police to enter someone's home just to invite them for an interview." 'No one's gonna know where you are' Ayeshah Behit is also an activist based in South Wales. She was arrested hours after posting a video on Instagram on 29 June of her questioning Alex Davies-Jones, Labour's MP for the Welsh town of Pontypridd, on her voting record concerning Israel's Gaza war. It was 8.30pm. Behit was home alone and half dressed when a dozen police officers threatened to break her door down. When she let them in, the officers stormed through her house. She rushed to the bathroom to put a bra on, but they barred her way. "I had no clue what was happening. I was just really conscious of the fact that I wasn't fully dressed," she told MEE. Ayeshah Behit pictured at her first case management hearing in August 2024 (Hannah Tottle/ The police told her that Davies-Jones had called them, reporting that the video she had posted on Instagram made her feel "unsafe." In the 20-second clip, Davies-Jones says she had not abstained from a November 2023 vote for a ceasefire in Gaza. The video cuts to evidence that she did not participate in the vote. However, Behit subsequently explained that Davies-Jones, a parliamentary supporter of Labour Friends of Israel, did not abstain, but paired her vote. Behit was told she would have to change in front of two female police officers in the bathroom. The activist said she was too scared to change in front of them, so male police officers barged into the room and arrested her as they said she was "taking too long." "When I put my hands on my phone, I remember one of the male cops shouting, 'She's resisting arrest,' and then they all just jumped on me. They grabbed me with such force that they broke my phone case. "They had me bent over my toilet and twisted my arms behind my back," she said. Behit was led out of the house in handcuffs and thrown on the floor of a police van. Before closing the van door, an officer taunted her, saying: "Let me make those more comfortable for you," referring to the cuffs, and proceeded to tighten them as much as possible. Behit was informed that she would be held "incommunicado." When she asked an officer what that meant, he responded: "No one will be notified that you're arrested, and no one's gonna know where you are." "That scared me, because I was home alone, and now I was on the floor of a police van," she said. "It was like a kidnapping." The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 stipulates that detainees are permitted an initial phone call, although this right may be delayed in cases relating to serious organised crime, terrorism or espionage. The line went dead Behit was taken to Merthyr Tydfil police station in south Wales, where she was held for 23 hours. She repeatedly asked for her mother to be notified of her arrest, but this was refused. About 13 hours in she was allowed to call her. "I got about three sentences in and said, 'Mum, I'm in Merthyr Tydfil', and then the line went dead," Behit said. As part of Behit's bail conditions, she was barred from associating with her housemate, Hiba Ahmed, who was also involved in the incident and arrested on the same charges. This rendered Ahmed briefly homeless. The pair were also barred from entering Pontypridd town centre, which they needed to access for grocery shopping and banking. In June 2025, Behit and Ahmed were convicted of harassing Davies-Jones. A criminal damage charge for stickering the MP's office was dropped, despite the Labour politician alleging the contrary in a post on Instagram. A bus stop stickered by the activists in Pontypridd, which a judge described as part of a 'sustained campaign' targeting MP Alex Davies-Jones (Supplied) In the full five-minute video seen by MEE, Davies-Jones is seen approaching Behit and Ahmed, who had been leafleting their neighbourhood and putting up stickers ahead of the 2024 general election, drawing attention to the MP's voting record on Israel's war on Gaza. "It wasn't a heated conversation until the very end, when she said we're going to have to agree to disagree and she started walking away," Behit recalled. "I shouted after her - 'How do you feel about the fact that police are arresting peaceful protesters?' And then I shouted, 'Alex Davies-Jones, you are supporting genocide.' But then I stopped, and I turned around and walked away. That was it." 'If we can't lobby our MPs during the genocide, what exactly does the government think a legal form of activism is?' - Kat Hobbs, Network for Police Monitoring Judge Paul Goldspring said the interaction, flyering and stickers amounted to "a deliberate and sustained campaign targeting the complainant" that was "designed to cause alarm and distress," which resulted in the MP abandoning her canvassing. This was contested by Behit and Ahmed, who said they saw her canvassing hours after their interaction. The flyers they distributed read: "Questions to ask Alex when she comes door knocking," while the stickers said "Labour = new Tory," "no ceasefire, no vote" and "Alex Davies-Jones, how many murdered children are too many?" Francesca Cociani, the lawyer representing Ahmed and Behit, argued in court that the flyers contained purely political commentary and were distributed with a view to influencing the election, rather than harassing Davies-Jones. "When politicians receive criticism, like personal criticism or criticism related to their political positions, they need to be able to withstand scrutiny from the public. And our point was even more so when it's for the purposes of an election," Cociani told MEE. Hobbs, a spokesperson at Netpol, said it was a "complete overreaction from an MP during a period where MPs showed that they were unable and unwilling to be lobbied. "If we can't lobby our MPs during the genocide, what exactly does the government think a legal form of activism is?" Both Behit and Ahmed received a conditional discharge and were ordered to pay court costs totalling £676 ($923). They intend to appeal against their convictions. In Britain, Palestine and climate activists face an 'unprecedented' wave of criminalisation Read More » Davies-Jones is a parliamentary supporter of Labour Friends of Israel and had made a paid trip to Israel earlier in 2024. She also has two family members who work for the police. She currently serves as the minister for victims and violence against women and girls, and previously worked in safeguarding against online violence against women and girls. The raid has left both Ahmed and Behit experiencing what they describe as symptoms of post-traumatic stress. They say this has been exacerbated by what they deem to be continued harassment by the South Wales police in the months following their arrests. This has involved police officers turning up to their home without prior warning to deliver letters in person, and being followed during a fundraiser in Cardiff. In one incident, a police officer driving past Behit slowed down and waved at her from his car. Hobbs said that Netpol has received reports of assault by the South Wales police, who she described as being "extremely hostile to Palestine solidarity activism." Netpol also documented multiple incidents of violence by the South Wales police against Black Lives Matter activists in 2021 following the death of Mohamud Hassan in January of that year, shortly after his release from Cardiff Bay Police Station. The South Wales police refused to comment on the raid at Behit's home, as they said no complaint had been submitted regarding the incident. Davies-Jones declined to comment. House raids 'becoming the norm' According to Hobbs, house raids are an increasingly common police tactic in the "pattern of intimidation" targeting Palestine activists. "We've had so many reports over the last year and a half of house raids," Hobbs told MEE. "They are increasingly becoming the norm as one of the arrest tactics across the board for Palestine activism, and it is clearly just trying to intimidate people out of being part of campaigns." 'They were literally laughing down the phone and saying: We're going to keep coming back and showing up on the doorstep' - Joe, Youth Demand activist In recent months, most of this activity has been concentrated on Youth Demand, a climate justice and pro-Palestine group. In April, the group called for a month of coordinated action in London to "Shut It Down for Palestine," demanding the UK government halts its arms sales to Israel. On 27 March, some 20 police officers raided a meeting of Youth Demand activists held at a Quakers' meeting house in London and conducted mass arrests on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance. This was followed by a wave of raids on a number of Youth Demand protesters' homes. According to Hobbs, this included one person who lives in supported accommodation for adults, a fact the police were not aware of until they arrived at his home. Joe, one of the targeted activists, was not involved in the meeting and had no plans to participate in the month of action. He reported that the police showed up at his family home on 3 April, shortly after he appeared in a video on X, calling for people to participate in a series of direct actions coordinated by the group across London to protest against Israel's war on Gaza. Starmer and Cooper urged by over 500 cultural figures not to ban Palestine Action Read More » Joe's father was at home and was advised by police that it was "in Joe's interests to turn himself in." The next morning, Joe handed himself in at Leyton police station, in east London, but was told there was nothing on record for him. Two weeks later, the police turned up at his house again. He wasn't at home, so they asked Joe's father for his number, which he refused to give. Minutes later, Joe received a call from a withheld number. It was the police, asking him to meet them at a specified location. "I thought, what the hell is this?" Joe told MEE. He refused, saying he had already tried to hand himself in. "They were literally laughing down the phone and saying, 'We're going to keep coming back and showing up on the doorstep. If you want to stay out, we'll be on the lookout for you'," Joe said. He then tried to hand himself in for a second time to Brixton police station, in south London. He said the response was sluggish. He was eventually arrested, held for four hours, interviewed and then released on bail with no charges. The Metropolitan Police declined to comment, as Joe's investigation is ongoing.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Pressure grows on Yvette Cooper to abandon plans to ban Palestine Action
The home secretary is coming under increasing pressure to abandon plans to ban Palestine Action, as UN experts and hundreds of lawyers warned that proscribing the group would conflate protest and terrorism. In two separate letters to Yvette Cooper, the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) lawyers' group and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers said that proscribing the group would set a dangerous precedent. Additionally, several UN special rapporteurs, including those for protecting human rights while countering terrorism and for promoting freedom of expression, said they had contacted the UK government to say that 'acts of protest that damage property, but are not intended to kill or injure people, should not be treated as terrorism'. On Tuesday two people were arrested after Palestine Action claimed to have blockaded the entrance of an Israeli defence company's UK headquarters. Avon and Somerset police said a 30-year-old woman and a 36-year-old man, both from London, were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, unauthorised entry to a prohibited place and locking on to a person, object or land to cause serious disruption. Earlier, a Palestine Action spokesperson said activists had blocked the entrance to Elbit Systems in Bristol and covered it in red paint 'to symbolise Palestinian bloodshed'. The Netpol lawyers' group letter, shared exclusively with the Guardian, was signed by 266 solicitors, barristers and legal academics, including 11 KCs and 11 law professors. 'Proscription of a direct-action protest group is an unprecedented and extremely regressive step for civil liberties,' they write. 'The conflation of protest and terrorism is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes. Our government has stated that it is committed to respecting the rule of law: this must include the right to protest. 'To use the Terrorism Act to ban Palestine Action from direct action would be an abuse of this legislation and an interference with the right to protest. Misusing terrorism legislation in this way against a protest group sets a dangerous precedent, threatens our democratic freedoms, and would be a terrifying blow to our civil liberties.' Signatories of the Haldane Society letter, which will be handed to Cooper before MPs vote on Wednesday, include Michael Mansfield KC and Imran Khan KC – who represented the family of Stephen Lawrence and victims of the Grenfell Tower fire – and the Labour peer John Hendy KC. It has been signed by thousands of people including the politicians Caroline Lucas, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, the actors Adeel Akhtar and Juliet Stevenson, teachers and vicars. The letter says: 'It [a ban] would leave many ordinary members of the public vulnerable – for example, simply wearing a T-shirt saying 'I support Palestine Action' would be seen as violating the proscription and action would need to be taken. 'There are many dangers to proscribing peaceful direct action groups, even if their objectives are those some of us may disagree with. Current and future governments may misuse this precedent to attack other interest groups in future, offering no avenues for peacefully venting dissent.' The prime minister, Keir Starmer, was a member of the Haldane Society but left when he became director of public prosecutions in 2008. The UN experts said: 'Mere property damage, without endangering life, is not sufficiently serious to qualify as terrorism … Protest actions that are not genuinely 'terrorist', but which involve alleged property damage, should be properly investigated as ordinary crimes or other security offences.' The Home Office referred the Guardian to Cooper's statement last week announcing the proposed ban, and comments in a press release issued on Monday in which she said that Palestine Action's acts 'do not represent legitimate acts of protest and the level of seriousness of Palestine Action's activity has met the test for proscription under the Terrorism Act 2000'.
