EWJ Dec 2023 - Journal - Page 65
Offences under the UK’s terrorism legisaltion are also
potentially being committed at these protests. One is
that since November 2021 Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK under its full name
Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah. Any person at
these demonstrations who professes to belong to
Hamas, whether they are or not, as seen with some of
the protesters wearing the masks and bandanas worn
by Hamas, will commit an offence under section 11
Terrorism Act 2000 of membership of a proscribed organisation, an offence that carries the potential of a 14
year period of imprisonment. It also an offence under
section 12 Terrorism Act 2000 to call for support for a
proscribed group, which in these protests we have
seen with calls to support Hamas. This offence is also
a serious one that carries the potential of a 14-year
period of imprisonment.
to police the protests sensitively but without fear or
favour. While the majority of those protesting are
doing so legally and within the parameters of the
rights to freedom of expression and right to peaceful
assembly, we are seeing some on the fringe of these
protests persons committing various crimes. As outlined in the coverage of the applicable legisaltion
above, the powers are there for the police to deal with
the offenders. All police forces in the UK should not
have any political influence in how they operate, and
they are not governed by central government. They
are still local citizens in uniform that must police without fear or favour. It is important that offenders at the
protests on any side be dealt with or the situation will
worsen as passions increase, especially if we start to see
a clash between the extremists who participate in the
pro-Palestinian protests clash with the far-right. If they
do and nothing is done or seen to be done by the police, as seen with the far-right’s refocus, especially the
opposition to Islamism, for many in the UK it is the
far-right who will gain sympathy and potentially
support.
Another offence that could be committed by those
giving speeches at these protests is under section 1
Terrorism Act 2006, the encouragement of terrorism.
The offence is one where a statement is made that is a
direct or indirect encouragement or inducement to
commit acts of terrorism. Regarding the person making a statement that encourages or induces an act of
terrorism they do not solely need to intend that a person will commit an act of terrorism, it also includes the
lower threshold of mens rea where they only need to
be reckless as to whether other members of the public are directly or indirectly encouraged or induced to
commit acts of terrorism. This is an objective legal test
where the statement is likely to be understood and
what members of the public could reasonably be expected to infer from that statement. In relation to the
pro-Palestinian protests this could include a person
following what they heard deciding to attack Jewish
worshippers at synagogues or, due the pro-Israeli
position, government buildings.
Author
Dr David Lowe is a retired police officer and is currently a senior research fellow at Leeds Law School,
Leeds Beckett University researching terrorism & security, policing and criminal law. He has many publications in books and journals in this area including his
recent book ‘Terrorism Law & Policy: A Comparative
Study’ published by Routledge in 2022. David is an
expert panel member of the UN’s UNESCO chair on
radicalisation and extremism and is currently involved
in two main projects one in Oldham regarding the recruitment of young people by Islamist and extreme
far-right groups and one in Northern Ireland assisting
in the drafting a Hate Crime Bill, along with a strategy
to safeguard young people from being drawn towards
paramilitary activity and hate crime. He is currently
writing a report on these issues for an All Party Parliamentary Group at Westminster. David is regularly
requested to provide expert commentary to UK national and international mainstream media on issues
related to his research areas and he provides an expert
witness service. (Email d.lowe@leedsbeckett.ac.uk).
David is also a passionate Everton supporter & season
ticket holder.
While the focus here has been on the pro-Palestinian
protests what is disconcerting is these protests have ignited a far-right response in the UK. A far-right group
‘Football Lads’ who are in essence football hooligans
linked to the far-right have stated they will join other
football team’s members of the group to counter proPalestinian protests in London. In addition to this, farright activist Tommy Robinson has urged for a ‘call to
arms’ to protect British culture and counter the proPalestinian protests. With the rise in Islamophobia, especially since the Islamist inspired terrorist attacks
Britian has suffered since attack on 7 July 2005 in
London, this has the potential of increasing violence
and putting the public in greater danger when both
the vitriolic extremists clash.
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Conclusion
As stated, the Israeli-Gaza conflict is a very emotive
issue, especially when so many civilians are being killed
or injured on both sides, especially children and is one
that has polarised not only UK citizens but the UK’s
political establishment both internally and with the police, in particular the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley. Not only is it an extremely
emotive issue it has resulted in thousands of protesters
taking to the streets and is one which the police have
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
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DECEMBER 2023