Ministers accused of 'false and defamatory' claims in Palestine Action row

The co-founder of Palestine Action has accused ministers of making false and defamatory allegations about the banned group and contradicting their own intelligence assessments in an attempt to justify the arrest of more than 500 people.

- Haroon Siddique Ben Quinn Rajeev Syal

The government has come under pressure to justify the detention of 532 people arrested over the weekend under the Terrorism Act - half of whom were 60 or older - on suspicion of showing support for Palestine Action.

The number of people arrested for peaceful protests, together with the images of older people being led away and the demands placed on the criminal justice system, have led many to call into question the criminalisation of so many people.

Yesterday, a Downing Street spokesperson responded by saying that Palestine Action, which last month became the first direct action protest group to be banned, was "a violent organisation that has committed violence, significant injury, extensive criminal damage".

The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, told the BBC that Palestine Action "is not a non-violent organisation" and claimed that court restrictions meant people "don't know the full nature of this organisation".

But Huda Ammori, the co-founder of Palestine Action, said: "Yvette Cooper and No 10's claim that Palestine Action is a violent organisation is false and defamatory and even disproven by the government's own intelligence assessment of Palestine Action's activities.