We need to talk about Audrey

TetleysTLDR: The Summary

Audrey White, a 74-year-old lifelong trade unionist and anti-racist, was violently arrested by Merseyside Police for peacefully protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza. Her treatment, thrown to the ground and handcuffed, symbolises a growing crackdown on dissent in the UK. Under both Tory and Labour governments, protest rights are being eroded, particularly targeting those who speak out in solidarity with Palestine. Audrey’s arrest is part of a wider pattern: elderly protesters across the UK are being detained under anti-terror laws for holding placards or silently protesting. T his is not about public safety; it's about silencing opposition. Britain is turning into a police state in denial, and Audrey’s case is a warning to us all, if they can do this to her, no one is safe.

Audrey White is 74 years old. She’s a retired trade unionist, a lifelong anti-racist, and a working-class woman who’s spent her entire adult life fighting for the underdog. She’s been targeted before, most famously by the Murdoch press and Margaret Thatcher’s Britain after she blew the whistle on sexual harassment at a Liverpool clothing store in the 1980s. Her story was turned into a film. Audrey White should be honoured as a hero of the British labour movement. Instead, last week, she was assaulted and handcuffed on the street by Merseyside Police and now she's under virtual house arrest.

Let that sink in.

A pensioner, thrown to the ground, cuffed like a violent criminal, her arms wrenched behind her back by officers trained to exert maximum force and minimal thought. Her alleged crime? Peaceful protest. Speaking out against genocide. Expressing opinions that, in a so-called liberal democracy, we are told are protected under law. But not anymore. Not if you challenge power. Not if you dare speak out against the British state's complicity in Israeli war crimes. This isn't about public order. It isn't about safety. It’s about obedience.

The Criminalisation of Dissent

In any functioning democracy, people have the right to protest. But in 2025 Britain, that right is being eroded by the day. Audrey White’s brutal treatment is just the latest in a series of authoritarian escalations: Palestine Action activists jailed, journalists intimidated, student encampments cleared with militarised force, and ordinary people arrested for carrying flags, chanting slogans, or refusing to be silent while bombs fall on Gaza. This isn’t 'policing by consent', it’s state repression in service of power. Audrey’s arrest is part of a broader pattern: the clampdown on protest that began in earnest with the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 under the Tories, now gleefully enforced and expanded under Keir Starmer’s Labour government. The same Starmer who smeared Jeremy Corbyn, purged anti-Zionist Jews from the party, and declared 'unshakeable support' for Israel even as its bombs flattened hospitals and schools. When a pensioner is manhandled for raising her voice, it’s not law and order, it’s intimidation.

A Government That Backs Genocide

Let’s call things what they are. The UK government, both the previous Tory regime and the current Labour administration, has provided diplomatic cover, weapons components, and moral backing to a state that stands accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice. Gaza is not a battlefield. It’s a cage, a concentration camp for over two million people, half of them children. And the British government, in its cowardice and complicity, has played its part. Every British-made drone component, every vetoed ceasefire resolution, every obfuscating soundbite from Westminster contributes to this horror. And when brave people like Audrey White dare to call this out, they’re labelled extremists. Terrorist sympathisers. Enemies of the state.

She didn’t throw a rock. She didn’t torch a building. She spoke: and for that, she was dragged to the pavement. If this can happen to Audrey White, it can happen to anyone.

Audrey’s History Matters

Audrey isn’t just anyone. She’s been on the frontline of working-class resistance for decades. In 1983, she led a successful strike against sexual harassment, despite threats and smears. When the Sun tried to destroy her reputation, she stood firm. She fought against the Iraq War, against cuts, against privatisation, and for decades she was a loyal member of the Labour Party. She was expelled in 2022 for telling the truth: that Keir Starmer is a liar who betrayed the left and shredded the party’s values in the pursuit of power. That expulsion, cheered on by Labour’s bureaucratic enforcers and their press attack dogs, was a warning shot. Now it’s come to this, a woman who stood for justice her whole life, being silenced with brute force by the very state she spent her life trying to improve. This is how fascism arrives in Britain: not with jackboots and rallies, but with polite parliamentary language, 'sensible' centrists, and police officers kneeling on old women in Liverpool.

^{Audrey White with Glenda Jackson, who played Babs Flynn in the film 'Business as Usual' which was based on the struggle of Audrey White against sexual harrassment in the workplace.}

Where is the outrage? Where are the liberal defenders of civil liberties? Where are the media pundits who wax lyrical about press freedom in Russia or women's rights in Iran? Deafeningly silent when it's a septuagenarian scouse that is the subject of police brutality. Because to condemn Audrey’s treatment is to admit an uncomfortable truth: that Britain is no longer a free country. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean anything if it only applies to polite agreement. Protest isn’t meant to be convenient. Dissent isn't meant to be comfortable. The right to oppose your government, to denounce war and to call out injustice is the foundation of a free society. I f that’s gone, then what’s left? A nation that brutalises 74-year-old women for raising her voice is not a democracy. It’s a police state in denial.

This Is a Test Case

Audrey White is a test case. If they can silence her, they’ll silence us all. Not just with arrests and handcuffs, but with fear. Fear of speaking out. Fear of losing your job. Fear of being branded an antisemite for defending Palestinian lives. Fear of being labeled an extremist for holding a placard. But we cannot be silent. Audrey wasn’t. She knew what it might cost her and she did it anyway. That’s what courage looks like. That’s what solidarity looks like. And that’s what they fear most: working-class people standing together and refusing to be cowed.

Final Word

We owe Audrey White more than our sympathy. We owe her our action. Demand accountability from Merseyside Police. Demand answers from the Home Secretary. Demand that your MP speaks out. And above all, refuse to be intimidated. Because if we let them crush Audrey, the rest of us are next.

For every Audrey that is arrested, 10 of us should take her place on the picket.

First they came for the Socialists... we know how this ends

Pensioners Arrested for Peaceful Protest in the UK

Audrey’s experience is part of a chilling pattern. Recent protests across the UK have seen multiple elderly people detained under anti-terror law for calmly expressing support for Palestinian rights:

• Cardiff

Marianne Sorrell (80) and Trisha Fine (75) were arrested at a Defend Our Juries rally for silently holding pro‑Palestine placards. They were detained for nearly 27 hours, had their homes searched, including seizure of books, flags, and electronic devices, and now face bail conditions that severely restrict their lives. Both said the experience was 'deeply shocking' and 'traumatising' The Telegraph+5The Guardian+5The Times+5

• London, Manchester, Cardiff, Derry

During protests on 12 July, over 70 people were arrested for holding signs such as “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” Among those arrested were pensioners and clergy members, including an 83-year-old retired priest. The Guardian+15Wikipedia+15The Times+15

• Silent protest in London

Reddit users reported arrests of older protesters (many over 60), some elderly women walking with sticks, who were “'ed away or carried off' Reddit

• London bicycle protest

An 83-year-old woman was allegedly arrested during a silent protest holding a sign in support of Palestine Action. YouTube

Case Examples of Other Detainees

Peter Tatchell (73) — veteran human rights campaigner detained in London for holding a sign condemning Hamas while marching in a pro‑Palestinian demonstration. He was held for five hours before release. The Metropolitan Police later acknowledged it was a misidentification.The Times
Jon Farley (67) — a retired teacher in Leeds, arrested for holding a Private Eye cartoon satirising government policy. Detained under terrorism laws for six hours, he was later released without charges. Private Eye editor Ian Hislop described the arrest as “mind‑boggling.”The Telegraph+4The Guardian+4The Guardian+4

Freedom of Speech Under Threat

These arrests are part of a broader trend:

The UK government’s proscription of Palestine Action is widely criticised by legal experts and the UN, including UN rights chief Volker Türk, who described the ban as disproportionate and incompatible with international law.The Guardian+11The Guardian+11Wikipedia+11
The ban and subsequent arrests target peaceful speech and assembly, not violence. Many of those detained were elderly, non-violent, and vocal in their opposition to genocide, not affiliation with extremist violence.WikipediaThe GuardianThe Guardian

What This Means for Protest and Civil Liberties

Concern	Implication
Criminalising Dissent	Peaceful expressions—signs, chants, symbols—are legally framed as support for terrorism.
Intimidation through Ageism	Targeting the elderly sends a broader message: if pensioners can be cancelled, so can anyone.
Chilling Effect	Many now self-censor to avoid legal risk. Civic spaces shrink.
State Overreach	Use of anti-terror legislation to police protest oversteps traditional policing boundaries

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