London, Greta Thunberg released after arrest for supporting Palestine Action
The Swedish activist was participating in a sit-in in solidarity with the Palestine Action group accused of terrorism by the Starmer government
Key points
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was released, on bail until March, this afternoon after being arrested by British police in London today while participating in a pro-pal demonstration. This was announced by the organisers of the initiative, promoted in solidarity with eight detainees from the Palestine Action group who have been on an all-out hunger strike for more than 50 days to protest against their trial and prison conditions in the United Kingdom, where they have been in pre-trial detention for months on the sidelines of the highly contested banned for 'terrorism' by the government of Keir Starmer, the organisation of which they are members.
Palestine Action is a group known for its civil disobedience actions and for denouncing the connections between London and Israel against the backdrop of what happened in the Gaza Strip, but its militants have never been charged with attacks on people. While the Starmer government's draconian crackdown on him has been criticised both in the kingdom and abroad: by the pacifist left, liberal politicians, humanitarian NGOs such as Amnesty International, and UN agencies.
The hunger strike of the eight detainees - men and women still awaiting trial and at the moment not convicted of any crime - is the longest in the country since the tragic 'Hunger strike' of 1981: when Northern Irish republican militant Bobby Sands and his nine other fellow fighters allowed themselves to die in Maze Prison, in the midst of the bloody Troubles conflict, in the face of the then Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher's refusal to recognise their actions as political and uncommon offences.
This time it is Starmer's Labour executive that is under indictment, starting with the ministers of Justice, David Lammy, and of the Interior, Shabana Mahmood, who are accused of a bureaucratic and inhuman management of the affair. Marked by the repeated refusal to respond to appeals lodged by dozens of MPs in the House of Commons and even to meet lawyers and relatives of the detainees involved: some of whom are already hospitalised due to their deteriorating condition; and now at risk of losing their lives, according to what family members and supporters reiterated today.
Greta Thunberg made her own complaints when addressing the protesters in London before her arrest, as witnessed in a video shot by the protest group Prisoners for Palestine: 'I', said the young Swedish activist, 'support the prisoners of Palestine Action, I oppose genocide'. At least two other demonstrators were detained by police on the sidelines of today's rally, which took place in front of the Aspen Insurance offices in the centre of the British capital. They are accused of targeting the London office of the insurance group with red spray paint, in remembrance of the bloodshed of the Gaza victims: protested for its financial support to Elbit Systems, Israeli company linked to the military-industrial complex.
