Defend our Juries hail the November wave of Action as “the most widespread act of civil disobedience of our time”

Defend our Juries have been crunching the numbers on the Lift The Ban November wave of Action. They say it will go down in history as the most widespread act of civil disobedience of our time. Here’s a bit of a breakdown from them:

650+ arrests

In November, we have seen more than 650 arrests under the Terrorism Act for peaceful sign-holding. Each of these arrests has taken place at a Lift The Ban vigil.

This does not include any arrests that may have occurred outside of our campaign for alleged support of Palestine Action.

This brings the total to more than 2,700 arrests since the ban came into effect.

Hundreds not arrested

In a bizarre (but totally predictable) turn of events, there have been hundreds of people not arrested despite holding signs with the exact same wording; “I oppose genocide – I support Palestine Action”.

Notably, no arrests have been made in Edinburgh for holding these signs since the campaign began, although t-shirts with “Genocide in Palestine – time to take Action” have led to arrests and an offer of a ‘parking fine’ in lieu of the “14 years in prison” previously threatened by the Home Office.

In Exeter, dozens of people held signs and had them taken away but were not arrested. Meanwhile, police in Truro managed to make a few arrests before giving up altogether, leading to an astonishing phone call between the welfare team and the local police.

30 actions, 25 locations

Thirty actions took place across 25 different locations throughout November, with more signing up having been inspired by the brave acts of those who launched the campaign in 10 towns & cities across the UK on November 18th.

Two impromptu actions took place directly outside Israeli arms factories.

All nations

Every nation across Britain and the North of Ireland stepped up to take action this November. Belfast and Derry led the charge across the sea, while Edinburgh and Caerdydd (Cardiff) took action on both Regional dates.

Four actions took place in London at symbolic locations, including the Royal Courts of Justice where Huda Ammori’s Judicial Review against the ban ended on 2 December.

Zero violence

Zero. Nobody taking action under the Lift The Ban campaign acted violently.

Despite over 650 so-called “terror” arrests, everyone took pride in our nonviolent stance. Nonviolence is our strength, and it is the foundational principle on which we act. We are actively opposed to violence.

We must thank the wonderful nonviolence team for their incredible trainings and sign-holders for adhering to the group agreement.

What next? Judicial Review outcome?

2 December marked the end of the Judicial Review hearing against the proscription of Palestine Action. We will not know the result for a while depending on how long it takes the panel of judges to make their decision.

We will update you all as soon as we know the outcome. In the meantime, we will rest and regenerate as we await the result.

We encourage you to use this time to look at some of our background and resources at www.defendourjuries.net. Our core work on Jury Equity and exposing the corrupting of the judiciary continues, especially with David Lammy’s most recent attack on jury trials.

We’ve also produced a beautiful short film documenting the experience of some of those who have taken action to Lift The Ban. We need your help to push it far and wide. This is something everyone can do from home! So, please, interact with the film (like, comment, repost) and share it into your local networks and ask others to do the same.

Featured image via Defend our Juries