HUNDREDS of people took part in silent protests against the proscription of Palestine Action across 10 of Britain’s towns and cities today.

Dozens were arrested, with more than 20 police vans and up to 80 police officers deployed to detain 22 protesters in Leeds.

Defend Our Juries activists holding signs reading “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action” received applause from onlookers as they were carried away by police. 

The campaign group wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood highlighting the “unprecedented wave of public resistance to corruption and genocide.”

The letter warned that her civil servants would have no recourse to the defence that they were obeying “superior orders” in implementing measures designed to crush meaningful opposition to Israel’s genocide.

“The pressure you are imposing on civil servants, on the police and on prosecutors, all of whom may face prosecution down the line, is unconscionable,” it said.

The protests followed last month’s Court of Appeal ruling that Palestine Action’s co-founder can proceed with a legal challenge to the government over its decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws.

More than 2,000 people have been arrested since the direct action group was proscribed by the Home Office on July 5.

Membership of or support for the group, which primarily targeted Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, is now a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

“When the Israeli government, Elbit Systems and their lobbyists are advancing the laws and framing opposition to genocide as ‘anti-semitic,’ such words form an Orwellian and circular argument of power,” the letter added.

“There is nothing more anti-semitic, nothing more anti-humanity, than genocide. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, the promise was ‘never again!’

“Your intimidation tactics, copied straight from the dictators’ playbook, serve only to highlight the complicity of you and your own government.”

More protests are planned this month in the run-up to the judicial review beginning on November 25.

The letter also asked Ms Mahmood: “Can you no longer remember the cry of conscience that spurred you to take action?” in reference to her once taking part in a protest that shut down a Sainsbury’s supermarket for stocking goods from illegal Israeli settlements.