THE mother of an imprisoned Palestine Action activist locked-on outside Parliament as MPs voted to use terror laws to proscribe the non-violent protest group.

Emma Kamio was arrested hours into her action during the emergency protest against Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s move to ban the group outside Downing Street on Wednesday.

She has spoken out as her daughter Leona remains in custody under counter-terror laws since August 2024 following a Palestine Action protest against Israeli arms company Elbit Systems in Bristol.

The single mother and former nurse from Swansea was herself arrested along with her daughter at the time, held in solitary confinement for five days without charge, before being released with no charges brought against her.

Last December she hit out at “the overpolicing and the repression that is happening right now in the UK.”

MPs on Wednesday backed the government’s move to ban Palestine Action, voting 385 to 26, majority 359, in favour of proscribing the group under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Ahead of the House of Lords passing the legislation today, a group of about 20 people vowed to risk 14 years’ jail time by holding signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action” in Parliament Square on Saturday.

In a statement the group, which includes former government lawyer Tim Crosland, said that their act of dissent “will be the first in a series.

“Every week, more people will show their support for freedom of expression and show that they are terrified by genocide in Palestine, not the Home Office lashing out against citizens with a conscience.”

Mr Crosland said: “There are already 18 Palestine Actionists held in UK prisons without a trial, following lobbying by the Israeli government and Elbit Systems, the leading supplier of the machinery of genocide.

“If we cannot speak freely about the genocide of Palestinians, if we cannot condemn those who enable it and praise those who resist it, then the right to freedom of expression has no meaning, and democracy in this country is dead.”

A parody X account named Yvette Cooper launched today, announcing that it had targeted “Time Logistics, who transport weaponry for Israel’s biggest weapons firm.

“If you want to ban Palestine Action, you’ll have to proscribe Yvette Cooper too.”