UK government applies terrorism rules unevenly to far-right riots and Palestine Action protests

Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn asked last week how else to describe people targeted on the basis of skin color except as victims of racist thuggery. The violence in Belfast meets the government definition of terrorism through the use or threat of actions meant to intimidate the public for political or racial ends, including serious violence and damage to property. Yet ministers have not applied the terrorism label to the Belfast attacks.

More than 3,000 people have been arrested for supporting the banned group Palestine Action, and many face terrorism charges. No one involved in the Belfast or Southampton riots has been charged with terrorist offenses, nor have those who incited the violence online. The Court of Appeal upheld the ban on Palestine Action after members spray-painted two warplanes at an arms factory. The judgment said the group is not a civil disobedience protest like the suffragettes.

Four Palestine Action protesters who broke into an Elbit factory were sentenced under terrorism provisions even though prosecutors did not pursue terrorism charges against them. Judge Mr Justice Johnson also sought contempt proceedings against their barrister, Rajiv Menon KC, for telling the jury it could acquit regardless of his directions. One protester, Samuel Corner, was convicted of grievous bodily harm without intent after he panicked following use of incapacitant spray.

By contrast, some Belfast and Southampton rioters clearly intended to harm police officers and were organized in groups. Investigative journalists have identified several of those groups, yet none appear on the government list of proscribed organizations. The pattern shows one standard for far-right violence and another for left-wing direct action.

The government treats far-right terrorism more leniently than left-wing dissent. The result is a form of right-wing authoritarianism under a nominally Labour administration.