A PRO-PALESTINE group has said police attempts to “silence” them have failed after an activist's ban from protesting in Scotland or entering Glasgow was overturned.
The founder of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC), Mick Napier, had been charged under anti-terror legislation after giving a speech at a rally in Glasgow in December 2023.
Napier, who is one of Scotland’s most prominent pro-Palestine activists, had said he agreed with the “Palestinian right to resist by means that they choose” at the protest.
He also said: “I want to thank them [Hamas] for breaking out of the Gaza concentration camp on October 7.
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“They were slated to die in Gaza, and they fought their way out.”
Hamas is a banned organisation in the UK.
According to reports at the time, police told Napier that he had been arrested for religiously aggravated offences.
The veteran campaigner had been charged under the Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organisation and was banned from attending any protest in Scotland and from entering the centre of Glasgow.
The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign said in a statement on Tuesday that a sheriff has overturned the “excessive” ban, which they claim intended to “curtail” their rights to protest.
The statement said: “This is not the first time Police Scotland has attempted to impose a ban on activists from Glasgow City Centre as part of bail conditions for charges relating to protests against the state of Israel and of companies and institutions complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people.
“Once again, a sheriff has overturned the ban that is excessive and clearly intended to silence us and curtail our rights to protest.
“The British Government is a partner in the horrific actions of the state of Israel in massacring Palestinians, in their targeted and genocidal attacks against women, children and men, now extended to killing civilians and targeting hospitals and medical workers in Lebanon.”
The statement went on to say that institutions and companies like Barclays Bank are “complicit” in “Israel’s crimes” along with political representatives who “continue to serve their self-interests".
The statement ended by saying activists from SPSC will continue to boycott and isolate the state of Israel.
More than 42,000 Palestinians have died and around 100,000 injured following the October 7 attacks.
More than 1200 people were killed by Hamas in the attacks which has led to a year-long assault on Palestine by Israel.
Police Scotland have been approached for comment.
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