policing

Five more Palestine activists could be sentenced as terrorists

  • Post author:
  • Post last modified:27 July 2026
Five more Palestine activists could be sentenced as terrorists

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) wants to sentence five more Palestine activists as terrorists for committing criminal damage, it can be revealed. Brendon O’Hagan, Amanda Kelly, Hmeera Atiqnisar, Mohammed Malik, and Alma Yaniv were convicted of criminal damage last month for a protest at a Barclays bank branch in Burnley in 2024. It was carried out in the name of Palestine Action almost a year before the group was banned under terrorism laws.  In the agreed facts of the case, the prosecution’s lawyers acknowledged that Barclays provided investments and loans to Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms firm. The court heard that…

Continue ReadingFive more Palestine activists could be sentenced as terrorists

Undercover Policing Inquiry reveals BAE Systems offered money to Special Branch to spy on anti arms trade campaigners

  • Post author:
  • Post last modified:14 July 2026
Undercover Policing Inquiry reveals BAE Systems offered money to Special Branch to spy on anti arms trade campaigners

Evidence in the Undercover Policing Inquiry recently revealed that BAE Systems, the UK’s largest arms company, offered the Metropolitan police money to spy on anti arms trade campaigners. This followed the 1996 Seeds of Hope Ploughshares action which caused £1.4m worth of damage to Hawk aircraft. Four women were acquitted of criminal damage charges on the basis they were preventing a greater crime by taking action to stop BAE Systems exporting the aircraft to Indonesia for use in war crimes against people in East Timor. The information emerged during the questioning of former detective chief inspector Dell on 1 July 2026.…

Continue ReadingUndercover Policing Inquiry reveals BAE Systems offered money to Special Branch to spy on anti arms trade campaigners

PSNI slammed for paramilitary policing cutbacks

  • Post author:
  • Post last modified:6 July 2026
PSNI slammed for paramilitary policing cutbacks

Anti-racist group End Deportations Belfast (EDB) has strongly criticised the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) for failing to reallocate resources to tackling paramilitary violence. This comes in the wake of violent racist pogroms carried out by loyalist mobs, which the PSNI now confirm paramilitaries played a role in coordinating. As EDB note, in 2025 the PSNI chose to “collapse one of the three PCTF [Paramilitary Crime Task Force] investigative teams“. This followed Stormont’s decision to cut funding to the anti-paramilitary group by 21% for 2024/25. Upon the launch of the PCTF in 2017, the British National Crime Agency (NCA) described…

Continue ReadingPSNI slammed for paramilitary policing cutbacks

Police chiefs face questions over decades of political policing as Spycops Inquiry resumes

  • Post author:
  • Post last modified:15 June 2026
Police chiefs face questions over decades of political policing as Spycops Inquiry resumes

On Monday 15 June, the Spycops inquiry resumes and campaigners will be looking for answers. Tranche 3 Phase 3 of the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI) is beginning. And it’ll be a crucial stage in the investigation into the Metropolitan police’s Special Demonstration Squad (SDS). The Inquiry has heard evidence from former undercover officers and many of those whose groups, campaigns and personal lives they infiltrated. It’s now turning its attention to the senior officers and government departments who authorised, supervised and oversaw these operations. For many of those affected, this phase goes to the heart of the Inquiry. The key question…

Continue ReadingPolice chiefs face questions over decades of political policing as Spycops Inquiry resumes