https://www.theguardian.com/politics...errorist-group

MPs have voted to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation despite concerns that the move could risk criminalising legitimate protest.

The draft order to amend the Terrorism Act 2000 and proscribe the group, laid by the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, passed the Commons on Wednesday by 385 votes to 26.

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After the vote, a Palestine Action spokesperson said: “We are confident that this unlawful order will be overturned. As United Nations experts have made clear, spraying red paint and disrupting the British-based operations of Israel’s largest weapons firm, Elbit Systems, is not terrorism.

“The terrorism and war crimes are being committed by Israel against the Palestinian people – armed and enabled by this government.”

Palestine Action is seeking a legal challenge against the government’s move to proscribe it. A hearing is expected on Friday to decide whether the ban can be temporarily blocked, pending further proceedings to decide whether a legal challenge can be brought.

On Tuesday the lawyers group Network for Police Monitoring and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers had warned the home secretary in two separate letters that proscribing Palestine Action would conflate protest and terrorism. The letters collectively were signed by hundreds of lawyers and by UN experts.

Several UN special rapporteurs said they had contacted the UK government to say that “acts of protest that damage property, but are not intended to kill or injure people, should not be treated as terrorism”.

The proscription order will go to the House of Lords and final approval is expected within days.

Yasmine Ahmed, the UK director of Human Rights Watch, said: “The use of counter-terrorism legislation to proscribe Palestine Action is a grave abuse of state power and a terrifying escalation in this government’s crusade to curtail protest rights. The idea that a non-violent protest group could be classed in the same category as Islamic State or al-Qaida is utterly preposterous and sets an incredibly dangerous precedent.

“Politicians should not be wielding the power of the state to protect corporate interests and silence legitimate non-violent protest.”