Independent Meath councillor breaks Palestine Action ban
An Independent councillor in Meath has said it was up to the older generation to “stand up” in support of Palestine.
Navan councillor Alan Lawes went to Newry on Thursday to attend the weekly Palestinian support and displayed t-shirts and posters supporting Palestine Action.
Speaking to the Irish Independent before the protest, Navan councillor Alan Lawes said: “I think it is now up to the older generation and politicians like myself to stand up.”
The 62-year-old councillor added: “We’ve gone through two years of protest, two years of condemning the continued atrocious actions against Palestinians, and it has gotten worse.”
“Our actions are in solidarity with the peaceful protesters arrested in London at the weekend in a disgraceful attempt to muzzle voices opposing the Israeli genocide.”
Over the weekend, London's police officers arrested 522 people for breaching anti-terror laws by supporting the recently proscribed group Palestine Action, a group outlawed on July 5. Many of the people arrested were in their 70s.
“Our intention is to expose the hypocrisy of Kier Starmer’s British Government in banning a non-violent direct action protest group while also supplying weapons to slaughter children in Gaza,” Cllr Lawes said
Cllr Lawes has been active for years in supporting the people of Palestine and has organised local community protests to highlight the killings in Gaza.
He has now called for an immediate ceasefire and has criticised what he called “the deliberate starvation of children, women and men in Gaza.”