Hundreds of people gathered at Belfast City Hall on Sunday, August 17, to protest a ban on Palestine Action. This comes after the UK government made it a criminal offence to be a member or supporter of the group in July under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The “Right To Protest” rally saw attendees block Chichester Street for a short period of time. Some wore clothing and held posters and placards in support of Palestine Action, defying warnings from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Around 20 officers were present, but no arrests were made. However, an investigation has been launched into the demonstration, with the force in the process of “reviewing evidence”.

Last weekend, a 74-year-old woman was arrested at an anti-racism rally in Belfast for wearing a Palestine Action t-shirt. Elsewhere, more than 500 people were detained in London on suspicion of similarly displaying an item in support of the banned group.

Palestine Action is a British pro-Palestinian network founded in 2020 with the goal of ending Israeli apartheid. It has used protest, occupation of premises, destruction of property and vandalism in its campaigns, describing itself as “non-violent yet disruptive”.

The UK government proscribed the network as a terrorist group on July 5, 2025, after its members damaged two military aircraft at RAF Brize Norton. At the time, the UN Human Rights High Commissioner described the decision as a “disturbing” misuse of counter-terrorism legislation. 

“According to international standards, terrorist acts should be confined to criminal acts intended to cause death or serious injury or to the taking of hostages, for purpose of intimidating a population or to compel a government to take a certain action or not,” said UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk.

“The decision appears disproportionate and unnecessary. It limits the rights of many people involved with and supportive of Palestine Action who have not themselves engaged in any underlying criminal activity but rather exercised their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.”

Irish author Sally Rooney is among those to have spoken out in favour of Palestine Action since the ban. In a piece for The Irish Times, the award-winning novelist said she intends to use the earnings from her work, as well as her public platform, to continue supporting the group “and direct action against genocide”. 

Since October 7, 2023, over 60,000 people have been killed in Gaza by Israel, and the territory has been pushed into famine.

On Monday, August 18, Amnesty International Ireland highlighted new testimonies that provide “compelling evidence” that Israel’s starvation of Palestinians is a deliberate policy. The accounts corroborate the organisation’s findings “that the deadly combination of hunger and disease is not an unfortunate byproduct of Israel’s military operations. It is the intended outcome of plans and policies that Israel has designed and implemented, over the past 22 months, to deliberately inflict on Palestinians in Gaza.”

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