5d ago

UK police hold pro-Palestine protester, 80, for almost 27 hours and search house

www.theguardian.com

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floofloof @lemmy.ca

5d ago

UK police hold pro-Palestine protester, 80, for almost 27 hours and search house

www.theguardian.com /uk-news/2025/jul/24/uk-police-detain-pro-palestine-protester-80-almost-27-hours-search-house

8 comments

Under the Terrorism Act the friends face a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Sorrell said: “I just feel if I’m put in prison for this, and even if I die in prison for this, I can’t think of a better thing to die for really than for the justice of the people who’ve been persecuted now for almost my lifetime.”
Godsdamn this woman is a hero.
If you're arresting 80 year olds in their home for protesting you are NOT the good guys.
- She was arrested at the scene. She was then held for 27 hours, and during that time police searched her home.
  I think she was the one holding a sign that read something like "Protect Palestine. Action is needed now" Palestine and Action were on separate lines, and she argued with police that there was a full stop between the words.
Goddamn UK, what the fuck are you doing? You’re as bad as us!
Well, okay not that bad. But still. Bad.
- I can't wait until we have our 3rd dumb fuck vote, after Brexit and Boris, and vote in Nigel Farage. Then the US will go "Hold my beer" and go for Trump for a 3rd time.
  The one connecting factor in all this is the Cambridge Analytica style of influencing and stealing elections.
Alternative way of writing the headline: "OAP intentionally walks up to police with a sign saying I AM A TERRORIST and is then surprised when she gets treated as a terrorist".
You can argue whether or not Palestine Action should have been proscribed or not, but it did happen and the government made it abundantly clear what that proscription means for anyone continuing to show support for them.
Maybe she wanted to make the point that the group shouldn't have been banned (in fact I'm sure that's the point she wanted to make) but surely she didn't think Keir Starmer was going to go "oh my god you know what, you're right, I'll do yet another U-turn because of this old lady".
- Isn't she the one who held up a sign saying something like "Protect Palestine. Action is needed now."? It's a bit convoluted to say that was support for the group Palestine Action, and that arrest, search, and home curfew for several months is an appropriate response.
- You are right, but also I doubt she was expecting her protesting to directly change anyone in power's mind. The tactic is obviously to keep doing this with people who are very media friendly (little old grannies and the like) so stories keep getting into the papers of "lovely person arrested for protesting!" which does put pressure on the government.

8 comments