Scottish Police Arrest Screenwriter Paul Laverty over T-Shirt Opposing Gaza Genocide

Scottish police have arrested the award-winning screenwriter Paul Laverty for wearing a T-shirt reading “Genocide in Palestine, time to take action.” The arrest of the 68-year-old took place during a protest in Edinburgh on Monday against the U.K. government’s support of Israel’s war on Gaza. In the U.K., public support of the protest group Palestine Action is a criminal offense under the Terrorism Act. Paul Laverty is a long-term collaborator of the filmmaker Ken Loach. Laverty spoke after he was processed and released with an order to appear in court on September 18 to face terrorism charges. Paul Laverty: “Although we have the law on our side, we cannot implement it. So I think we have to change the narrative. I think we’ll have to remember is that the most important court in the world is the court of public opinion. Ordinary people are appalled to see starvation and genocide and the selling of arms to the apartheid state in Israel, and are just appalled by it.”