LONDON (AFP) : British authorities have charged six people for participating in meetings to plan a demonstration in support of the banned group Palestine Action, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The six, aged from 26 to 62, were charged “with various offenses of encouraging support for a proscribed terrorist organization,” the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement.
They were placed in detention and are due to appear in court on Thursday. They risk up to 14 years in prison.
Palestine Action was designated a terrorist organization and banned in July after vandalism at a Royal Air Force base.
The charges result from 13 online meetings they attended to prepare for several protests over the summer.
During an online press conference Wednesday, representatives of the group Defend Our Juries, to which the arrested individuals belonged, confirmed that demonstrations would go ahead on Saturday in London, Derry in Northern Ireland, and Edinburgh in Scotland.
British police have made arrests at recent protests in support of Palestine Action.
British film director Ken Loach, who attended the event, called the ban on Palestine Action “absurd” and accused the government of being complicit in Israel’s “incredible crimes” in Gaza.
