Suffragettes to Palestine Action: A history of direct-action protest in UK
Key takeaways
- Analysts say Britain is responding to civil disobedience with unprecedented severity.
- Palestine Action, founded in 2020, describes itself as a “direct action” movement committed to disrupting companies and institutions it says are complicit in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
- Supporters say the group belongs to a long British tradition of civil disobedience while critics accuse it of engaging in tactics that cross the line into “terrorism”.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Analysts say Britain is responding to civil disobedience with unprecedented severity.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo. A woman is detained during a demonstration outside the Royal Court of Justice in London as the Court of Appeal rules on June 15, 2026, that the government's ban on Palestine Action is lawful [Carl Court/Getty Images]By Caolán Magee Published On 16 Jun 202616 Jun 2026The United Kingdom’s Court of Appeal has upheld the government’s decision to proscribe the activist group Palestine Action as a “terrorist organisation”, marking the latest chapter in a growing debate about the right to protest in Britain.
Palestine Action, founded in 2020, describes itself as a “direct action” movement committed to disrupting companies and institutions it says are complicit in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Its activists have targeted weapons manufacturers and military facilities in the UK mainly through acts of vandalism and property destruction.