Britain's descent into Kangaroo justice
TetleysTLDR: The Summary
Britain is sliding from democracy into authoritarianism, using anti-terrorist laws to crush peaceful dissent. The government’s proscription of Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 has turned non-violent protest: paint, sit-ins, blockades, oce viewed as a worst criminal damage into a into a much more serious offence. Over 2,000 people have been arrested, some jailed, many banned from protesting or even liking posts online. Elderly activists like Audrey White now face terror charges for symbolic protests, forced to travel to London for hearings lasting barely half an hour. With no jury, 36-minute trials, and lifelong criminal records, justice has become a pantomime. A pending judicial review may expose the illegality of the proscription itself. While a few lawyers fight back, police and politicians from Tories to Starmer’s Labour enable this repression through laws like the Public Order and National Security Acts. What’s left is lawfare: a state using courts as theatre to brand conscience as crime and morality as 'terrorism'.
TetleysTLDR: The article
How peaceful protest became “terrorism” and the rule of law turned into theatre
When Ricky Hale of Council Estate Media exposed how the British state is treating elderly peace activists as terrorists, it wasn’t hyperbole: it was evidence. Britain is criminalising dissent, twisting its own legal system to protect Israel and punish those who object to genocide. What’s happening to Palestine Action supporters marks a watershed in Britain’s slide from democracy to authoritarian rule. T he law has ceased to be a safeguard of liberty and it has now become a weapon against conscience.
Criminalising Conscience
Since the proscription of Palestine Action under Section 3 of the Terrorism Act 20001, more than 2,000 non-violent protesters have been arrested for expressing solidarity with a non-violent group. Their crime is standing against Britain’s complicity in Israel’s ongoing atrocities in Gaza. Palestine Action’s tactics, paint, blockades, sit-ins, are deliberately non-violent and target arms companies such as Elbit Systems, whose weaponry is used against civilians. Under any sane standard, this is civil resistance, not terrorism. And yet by branding the group as a terrorist organisation, the government made it a criminal offence under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 20002 to invite support for Palestine Action: including online solidarity, retweets, or even wearing a badge.
Audrey White and the New Political Prisoners
Hale’s reporting shines a light on Audrey White, a pensioner now facing a terror-related prosecution for a symbolic act of protest. Her alleged attack harmed no one: unless you count the fragile egos of genocide supporters and the tacit guilt of our Government. Despite living in Liverpool, White must appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, hundreds of miles away. Disabled and elderly defendants from across the UK face the same ordeal. The hardship is intentional, the process has become the punishment. Under Article 6 of the Human Rights Act 19983, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing. Forcing vulnerable people to travel to London for minor offences, only to face proceedings lasting barely half an hour, makes a mockery of justice. Audrey, a long time activist is just the person to fight this and win. They may have bitten off more than they can chew by arresting her.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_White_(activist)
Bail as Control
Defendants have been issued draconian bail conditions, including bans on attending protests or even liking social-media posts relating to Palestine Action. Some are under curfews, effectively criminalised before conviction. Twenty-nine non-violent people are currently in jail awaiting trial. Others must appear on Armistice Day, when travel and accommodation will be at their most expensive. It’s bureaucratic cruelty and repression disguised as due process.
Thirty-Six Minutes to Defend Your Conscience
Each defendant is reportedly given 36 minutes to make their case. This includes prosecution and cross-examination. There is no jury. Verdicts are in the hands of a single magistrate who can impose up to six months in prison or a £5,000 fine under Section 11 of the Terrorism Act 20004. Because terrorism convictions are excluded from rehabilitation under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 19755, they must be disclosed indefinitely. In effect, the state is branding peace campaigners for life. This is not a court of law; it’s a kangaroo court.
The Judicial Review: A Battle for the Law Itself
A judicial review into the government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action is scheduled to take place just two weeks after the trials of White and others. This review will test whether the Home Secretary’s decision to label a non-violent protest group as 'terrorist' meets the legal test of necessity and proportionality under Section 3(3) of the Terrorism Act 2000. If the court finds that the proscription was unlawful, and therefore quashes it, those already tried and convicted could face the absurd prospect of carrying criminal records for supporting an organisation that was never lawfully proscribed. It’s a legal farce of Kafkaesque proportions, and it exposes the government’s reckless disregard for the rule of law. The review is not merely procedural; it’s existential. It will determine whether Britain remains a country where political protest has legal protection or one where the definition of terrorism shifts at the whim of ministers.
Not Every Lawyer Is Complicit
Amid this bleak picture, it’s vital to note that not all of Britain’s legal profession has capitulated to the authoritarian drift. A growing number of solicitors and human-rights lawyers are defending these activists, often pro bono or through crowdfunding. Firms such as Kellys Solicitors, Bindmans LLP, Hodge Jones & Allen, and ITN Solicitors have taken on protest and terrorism-related cases, challenging the misuse of national-security legislation against peaceful citizens. Legal charities like Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights (LPHR) are also providing guidance and scrutiny, ensuring that the state’s narrative does not go unchallenged. These lawyers are, in effect, the last line of defence between democracy and despotism, proving that even within the legal system, not everyone is towing the authoritarian line.
The Enforcers of Injustice
If the courts are where this farce plays out, the police are its stagehands: dutifully moving the scenery for tyranny. Every officer who arrests a pensioner for holding a placard, who handcuffs a disabled protester for 'supporting terrorism', is betraying the very oath they swore to uphold. British police officers swear to 'uphold the law and the human rights of all'. Yet in practice, they have become foot soldiers for political repression: enforcing legislation they know violates both the Human Rights Act and international law. The uniform that once stood for public service now too often stands for obedience to power. No one forced them to drag a grandmother across the pavement for holding a Palestine flag. No one ordered them to seize banners quoting the Geneva Conventions. They did so willingly, under the banner of national security. It’s not just cowardice, it’s complicity. Instead of honouring their oath to protect citizens from harm, the police now protect the powerful from accountability. History will not remember them as guardians of order, but as enforcers of an unjust one.
The Bipartisan Rot
Authoritarianism in Britain is bipartisan. Labour under Keir Starmer, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, has embraced the same rhetoric of order and security. The Prevent Strategy6 still forces teachers, doctors, and council staff to report anyone whose political views are 'concerning'. The Public Order Act 20237 criminalises protest tactics as trivial as locking on or slow marching. The National Security Act 20238 broadens the definition of foreign interference so widely that it could conceivably criminalise journalists or NGOs critical of UK foreign policy. This is not democracy. It’s managed dissent: law by intimidation.
And meanwhile Jess Philips lies through her teeth to journalists that the Government have evidence that PA are a violent group. She must think we are stupid - if they really had evidence: evidence that could be reviewed and coroborrated - they would be shouting it from the rooftops and it would be on the front page of every newspaper.
Conclusion: The Theatre of Law
What we are witnessing is lawfare: the transformation of law into an instrument of political control. Peaceful citizens are being treated as enemies of the state, while Britain’s judiciary plays along in a grotesque performance of justice. When non-violence is treated as terrorism, and the defenders of justice are punished by law, the real extremists are those who write the laws themselves. One day, these prosecutions will be remembered not as triumphs of national security, but as the shameful record of a state-sanctioned witch-hunt against morality itself.
And here is a sobering thought: Reform UK Ltd's call to bring back capital punishment for 'terrorism' sounds tough until you realise what that means in today’s Britain. Under the same warped laws that branded Palestine Action as terrorists, that could mean executing peaceful protesters, pensioners like Audrey White, or anyone accused of supporting a non-violent campaign that the Government doesn't like. When the state defines dissent as extremism, the death penalty stops being a deterrent for bombers and becomes a threat to anyone with a conscience. It’s not about justice; it’s about fear a brutal warning that opposition to state violence could cost you your life.
Legal References
- Terrorism Act 2000, Section 3 — Proscription of Organisations. ↩
- Terrorism Act 2000, Section 12 — Support for Proscribed Organisations. ↩
- Human Rights Act 1998, Article 6 — Right to a Fair Trial. ↩
- Terrorism Act 2000, Section 11 — Membership of a Proscribed Organisation. ↩
- Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, Schedule. ↩
- Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, Section 26 — The “Prevent Duty” imposed on public bodies. ↩
- Public Order Act 2023, Sections 1–7 — Criminalisation of protest tactics. ↩
- National Security Act 2023, Part 1 — Foreign Interference and Political Offences. ↩
Tetley is a left of centre writer and retired musician based in the UK. A former member of the Labour Party, he writes political analysis exposing Britain’s authoritarian drift, the criminalisation of protest, and the erosion of civil liberties.
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