On Monday 16 June 2026, Britain’s Court of Appeal upheld the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.

By Viola Montoya

Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr and four other senior judges declared the ban struck a “fair balance” between national security and rights to freedom of expression and assembly. “When the severity of the effects of proscription are balanced against the importance of the objectives of protecting national security and the rights and freedoms of others,” she wrote, “we find that the latter in this case outweighed the former.”

This overturns the February High Court victory that ruled the ban unlawful and disproportionate. That earlier win was itself the product of a sustained battle in the courts, and particularly the huge pressure exerted by mass resistance that exposed the ban’s absurdity. It marks a major escalation in the state’s assault on the right to protest.

Since the ban was imposed in July 2025, police have arrested over 3,000 people. More than 700 have been charged, mainly for carrying placards showing solidarity with the proscribed group, and now face terrorism-related charges. It is clear that this has never been about violence. It is about crushing a movement that has disrupted Britain’s complicity in the Gaza genocide through direct action against firms like Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems.

The crackdown fits a wider pattern. The government has pushed to restrict jury trials under the cover of ‘budget constraints’. In reality, this is an attempt to push back against juries, which have repeatedly delivered ‘not guilty’ verdicts for Palestine and climate activists involved in direct action when their conscience clashed with the law. Meanwhile, legal aid, already gutted and fried after more than a decade of savage cuts, faces yet more pressure, leaving arrested protesters struggling to find decent representation. Overworked, underpaid legal professionals, endless backlogs, and a system deliberately starved of resources stack the deck against proper defence.

Draconian sentences

This ruling came just days after draconian sentences for the Filton Four activists convicted of criminal damage at an Elbit factory. The judge added a ‘terrorist connection’ during sentencing despite none of them having been charged with or found guilty of a terrorist offence. Discussion of genocide Gaza and Britain’s role in it was barred during the trial, while those enabling mass murder face no consequences. This is capitalist ‘justice’ in action.

British imperialism profits from the arms trade. Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons manufacturer with major UK operations, supplies components and drones used in the genocide in Gaza. The state defends capital and the interests of British imperialist interests and alliances – it is not neutral. Proscribing Palestine Action sends a warning to the movement: challenge the war machine at your peril.

The pattern reflects a broader trend of attacks on the right to protest. Successive governments have expanded ‘anti-terror’ laws, increased police powers, and sought to limit public assembly, all while claiming to protect democracy. Yet the real threat they target is organised, disruptive resistance to capitalist interests.

Thousands defied the Palestine action ban on the streets and at arms factories. The February win showed that pressure works. The reversal shows that the fight is far from over. This ban is just the latest in a wider series of attacks on the right to protest by successive governments. The fight against this ban should be taken up by all sections of the left and the workers’ movement – including trade unions, climate activists and the anti-war campaigners.

The state acts to defend the capitalist system, and the interests of British imperialism. That’s why the fight against state repression must be connected to the fight for a socialist society, where production serves people’s needs, not the profits of the super-rich. The ban is a setback, but it highlights the need to step up the fightback against the war machine.

We say:

• Protest is not a crime! Free all those imprisoned for solidarity action.
• The courts are not on our side! Step up action and make the law unenforceable through sustained, mass mobilisation.
• We need workers’ action to shut down the war machine! For trade union action to shut down the production and transport of arms.
• Nationalise the arms industry under democratic control, for an immediate transition from weapons manufacturing to socially useful production.