Hunger strike supporters target Labour Party offices

Campaigners have spray painted two local Labour Party offices in support of hunger strikers in UK detention. A group called ‘Justice for the Hunger Strikers’ carried out the actions on 7 and 8 December. They targeted the Harrow office of Gareth Thomas MP and the Sheffield office of Louise Haigh MP.

On 2 November, 7 prisoners began a collective open-ended hunger strike. An eighth, with diabetes, is on a partial hunger strike. They’re all on remand in relation to two actions by Palestine Action, which took place before proscription. This includes a raid at Israeli weapons firm Elbit Systems in Filton, Bristol and an action at RAF Brize Norton. They each face up to two years on remand before trial, far exceeding the pre-trial custody time limit of six months.

The hunger strikers’ demands

They’re now entering their sixth week on hunger strike, and are demanding an end to censorship, a right to a fair trial, bail, de-proscription of Palestine Action and an end to Ministry of Defence contracts for Elbit Systems. The demand for an end to censorship means allowing them to have unrestricted access to their own mail and books, as well as being able to freely associate with one another.

The hunger strikers are entering a critical phase of the hunger strike, where irreversible damage to their health is likely. Despite this, the Ministry of Justice has failed to respond to their demands. When confronted by family members of the hunger strikers at a local MP event on 5th December, Labour’s Justice Secretary David Lammy said “I didn’t know anything about this”.

A spokesperson for Justice for the Hunger Strikers said:

If the Labour cabinet is so intent on ignoring the hunger strikers then we will take the demands to their doors. We have started with only paint but we make a promise to our hunger strikers – and to our so-called government – that we shall continue the campaign each day their demands are not met.

David Lammy has failed to abide by his own policy of responding to communications in relation to the hunger strike, and his proclaimed ignorance is no defence to permitting the political prisoners’ condition to rapidly decline without so much as a response.

This is an emergency, and we all must act as such. We stand by the hunger strikers, and their resistance from behind bars inspires us all to escalate our resistance on the outside.

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