'It Was My Duty' Over-60s Arrested for Protesting Against Ban Explain Why They Did It

In recent weeks, hundreds of people have been arrested for taking part in demonstrations organised by the campaign group Defend Our Juries. Their alleged crime is expressing support for Palestine Action, which has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Yvette Cooper, the home secretary.

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One striking detail among those detained has been their age. Half of those arrested at the largest protest, in Parliament Square in London on 9 August, were 60 or older. Some said they had taken part to give a voice to younger people who had more to lose by breaking the law; some simply felt they must challenge the government's stance. The Guardian spoke to some of these protesters.

‘Young people shouldn’t be doing this… we should be taking the responsibility’ Deborah Hinton, 81

“The government is looking [like] such idiots,” said Deborah Hinton, a former magistrate. “I mean when people say: ‘What’s your status?’ and then I say: ‘Well, I’m on bail for terrorism,’ they look at me as if the situation is farcical. I think they [ministers] are making themselves look an absolute joke.”

Hinton was arrested at a 19 July demonstration in Cornwall arranged by Defend Our Juries (DOJ). A former member of the Parole Board, she was awarded an OBE in 1994 for services to the community. She was already involved with DOJ because she was worried about the erosion of free speech and the right to protest, but the banning of Palestine Action had been a “red line”.

She said: “In my view, Palestine Action is not a terrorist organisation. I lived through the IRA and the bombing in London when you had to leave shops and leave museums because bombs might go off any minute. Frankly, that is what a terrorist organisation is. This is not a terrorist organisation, it’s a direct action organisation, like the suffragists, like the Greenham Common women, like many other organisations.

“If people do direct action and they cause criminal damage, then you arrest the people, you charge them [under existing laws], and that’s that.”