So as good as their word, after 18 people protested outside New Scotland Yard with placards reading 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action' they have all been arrested by the Metropolitan Police.
They will now of course find themselves in a sort of legal limbo as charges will be dropped (indeed rendered null & void) if the appeal by the Govt. fails to overturn the judgement that the proscription of Palestine Action was itself illegal.
h/t Guardian
@ChrisMayLA6 So false arrest.
Are there no pro-bono legal people who can support them?
No, while the appeal is still running the High Court explicitly said the proscription would stand... thus, if the law is rendered null, the charges will be too, but the arrests were legitimate (in a legal sense, not a moral one) under the law existing on the day. It will be an interesting issue of retrospective application of the law, but I imagine there will be a way round any accusations of false arrest - although it would be fun if this doesn't get into the final judgement
@ChrisMayLA6 That's not my understanding. Yes, the proscription reasons in place pending an appeal. But unless the High Court judgment is overturned in appeal, the ban is void ab initio, and all the arrests are illegal, including today's arrests.
Because in the case the Govt. was given the leave to appeal, and I imagine the Judge thought it would be less disruptive to have the law change & then be changed back if the Govt. win its appeal.
@ChrisMayLA6 I agree with Chris on this point. It's common for implementation to be delayed until the appeals process is complete, to avoid a cycle of actions swinging back and forth between legality and illegality.
@ChrisMayLA6 @2legged But it favours possibility over current certainty.
Logistics favouring the guilty in this instance.
@NicelyManifest A judgment under appeal is not certain. If it was certain, then there would be a huge problem.
@NicelyManifest This is not about a future challenge. The govt has already been given leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal, and whichever side loses there will try to appeal to the UK Supreme Court.
If courts implement the latest decision without a stay, there is a risk that 2,700 cases get dismissed, reinstated, then dismissed again. That is not in anyone's interest.
The ideal interim solution would be a stay on trials and arrests, but I'm not sure of the legality of that.
Emeritus Prof Christopher May
Neil Moffatt
Claire McNab