Trudi Warner, 70, was among hundreds arrested in Parliament Square in August for allegedly supporting the banned group Palestine Action, reports Marco Marcelline
A 70-year-old activist and retired social worker has been charged with terrorism offences after allegedly showing support for the banned group Palestine Action.
Trudi Warner, from Walthamstow, was charged with an offence contrary to section 13 of the Terrorism Act, 2000, alongside Adeelah Mir, 42, from Leyton.
They were among 532 people arrested on 9th August during a Parliament Square demonstration against the banning of Palestine Action, which was proscribed by the Labour government this summer.
134 people have so far been charged by the Met with an offence of showing support to the group.
Warner and Mir are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 24th November, and could face a maximum sentence of six months in prison if found guilty.
Speaking to the Echo before she was charged, Warner said: “This is a bad law, and our government is complicit in genocide and are breaking international law. They are the real terrorists. It is the duty of good people to break bad laws. We are whistleblowing about the level of corporate criminality behind this proscription.”
After it came to power last year, Labour suspended 30 out of around 350 arms export licences to Israel amid its assault on Gaza, while continuing to export parts for F-35 jets used by the Israel Defence Force. Meanwhile, Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft have run more than 600 flights over the Palestinian territory, reportedly to look for Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Palestine Action was banned by the government after activists broke into the RAF base at Brize Norton and vandalised two military aircraft in June, causing an estimated £7million in damage.
More than 1,500 people have been arrested since the proscription came into effect on 5th July. This amounts to more than six times the total number of counter-terror arrests in the whole of 2024.
On Sunday 28th September, 66 people, including an 83-year old-woman, were arrested outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool for alleged Palestine Action support.
Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Liberty, have strongly criticised the Palestine Action ban, calling it a “chilling” attack on people’s right to protest against what they see as UK government complicity in Israel’s devastating actions in Gaza.
All three Waltham Forest MPs, Stella Creasy, Calvin Bailey, and Sir Iain Duncan Smith, voted in favour of proscribing the group in July.
However, Walthamstow MP Creasy recently told parliament that the ban was “unsustainable” in its current form. She said earlier this month: “Proscription was supposed to be about stopping those inciting direct harm and violence.
“Going after somebody with a poster, testing the boundaries of liberty, many of whom are clear they don’t support Palestine Action, but feel strongly about Palestinian rights and free speech, confuses rather than clarifies the government’s intentions.”
The previous Conservative government had attempted to prosecute Warner for contempt of court after she held a placard outside a trial of Insulate Britain protesters in March 2023. The sign, which read “Jurors: you have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to your conscience”, reflected a 300-year-old legal principle also written on a plaque on the Old Bailey.
In August 2024, Labour’s new solicitor general dropped the prosecution attempt. Warner reacted to the news, saying: “I can go back to my gardening and learn a language…maybe!”
No news is bad news
Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.
The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.
If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.
Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.
Monthly direct debit
Annual direct debit
£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.
More information on supporting us monthly or annually
More Information about donations
