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LONDON: Police arrested five “key spokespeople” for an organization campaigning against the UK government’s designation of Palestine Action as a “terrorist group” in “dawn raids” on Tuesday, the group said.
Defend Our Juries has organized several demonstrations against the government’s contentious July 5 Palestine Action ban, leading to hundreds of arrests with police charging scores of people under anti-terror laws.
The campaigners had been due to hold an online press conference later Tuesday ahead of another planned “Lift the Ban” protest in London this weekend, but postponed the briefing after what they called the “dystopian crackdown.”
“Counter-terrorism police arrested five of Defend Our Juries’ key spokespeople in dawn raids in London this morning over Lift the Ban protests,” it said in a statement.
“This is scandalous,” a spokesperson added, calling it “an unprecedented assault on free speech in our country.”
“This level of political repression is not what we expect in a democracy — it’s the kind of tactic typically associated with authoritarian regimes around the world,” the spokesperson said.
London’s Metropolitan Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Defend Our Juries vowed to press ahead with its latest planned demonstration on Saturday in Parliament Square, claiming that 1,000 people had pledged to hold signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
More than 700 people who have held up such signs at previous protests over the last two months have been arrested under anti-terror laws for showing support for a proscribed organization.
Police said Monday a further 47 people had been accused of showing support for a banned group, meaning 114 Palestine Action supporters have now been charged with the offense.
The arrests were made under the Terrorism Act 2000, which the government also used to proscribe Palestine Action.
Interior minister Yvette Cooper accuses it of orchestrating “aggressive and intimidatory attacks against businesses, institutions and the public.”
Its outlawing came after the group took responsibility for breaking into a Royal Air Force base in June and spraying two aircraft with red paint, causing an estimated £7 million ($10 million) in damage.
Palestine Action said its activists were protesting Britain’s support for Israel amid the war in Gaza.
Critics, including the United Nations and groups such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace, have condemned the group’s proscription as legal overreach and a threat to free speech.

BEIJING: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that USPresident Donald Trump’s administration is listening to the Kremlin’s justifications for its invasion of neighboring Ukraine and claimed that Moscow and Washington have come to a “mutual understanding” about the conflict.

Putin said during a visit to China that “the (Trump) administration is listening to us,” as he complained that former President Joe Biden paid Moscow’s arguments no heed.

“Now we see this mutual understanding, it’s noticeable,” Putin said at a bilateral meeting with Slovakian President Robert Fico after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. “We are very happy about this and hope this constructive dialogue will continue.”

But Russia faces possible punitive actions by Trump, who has expressed frustration at Putin’s lack of engagement in US-led peace efforts and threatened unspecified “severe consequences.” The American president has made ending the three-year war one of his diplomatic priorities and hosted Putin at a summit in Alaska last month.

Putin attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the Chinese city of Tianjin with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who are also facing pressure from Trump. The SCO started out as a security forum viewed as a foil to US influence in Central Asia but it has grown in influence over the years.

After the summit, the Russian leader held talks with Xi in Beijing, and on Wednesday he was to attend a massive military parade there commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

In Beijing, Putin struck an apparently amenable tone about possible progress in some aspects of the discussions to stop the fighting, although his comments reflected no substantial change in Russia’s position. Western leaders have accused Putin of marking time in peace efforts while Russia’s bigger army seeks to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses.

On the key issue of possible postwar security guarantees for Ukraine to deter another Russian invasion, Putin said “it seems to me that there is an opportunity to find consensus.” He didn’t elaborate.

While Putin reiterated that Moscow will not accept NATO membership for Ukraine, he also noted that he had never objected to Ukraine joining the European Union.

He also said Russia “can work with our American partners” at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest and one of the 10 biggest atomic power plants in the world. Its fate has been a central concern of the war due to fears of a nuclear accident.

Putin said Russia could also work with Ukraine on the Zaporizhzhia question — “if favorable conditions arise.”