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Sarah Rogers, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, criticized U.K. police for arresting pro-Palestine protesters, arguing that such crackdowns on free speech do “more harm than good.”
Asked by Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith about police in the U.K. arresting protesters, including elderly grandmothers, who express support for Palestine Action – a pro-Palestine organization that was designated a terrorist group by the British government last year – Rogers said:
I would have to look at each individual person and each proscribed organization. I think if you support an organization like Hamas, then depending upon whether you’re coordinating, there are all these standards that get applied. This Palestine Action group, I’ve seen it written about. I don’t know what it did. I think if you just merely stand up and say, “I support Palestine Action,” then unless you are really coordinating with some violent foreign terrorist, I think that censoring that speech does more harm than good.
Palestine Action was outlawed as a designated terrorist group in the U.K. last year after members of the organization broke into a Royal Air Force base and vandalized a plane in protest over the British government’s support for Israel against Gaza.
Since then, more than 2,700 people have reportedly been arrested for protesting the ban and expressing support for Palestine Action, including an 83-year-old Anglican priest, an 81-year-old former magistrate, an 80-year-old retired teacher, a 75-year-old Catholic priest, a 75-year-old former Army colonel, a 68-year-old grandmother of seven, an old woman with a Zimmer frame, and a man in a wheelchair.
Last month, climate change activist Greta Thunberg was also arrested in London for holding a sign that read, “I support Palestine Action prisoners… I oppose genocide.”
The post Trump Official Criticizes U.K. for Arresting Pro-Palestine Grandmas: ‘Does More Harm Than Good’ first appeared on Mediaite.