Irish author pledges support for Palestine Action despite UK ban

Irish novelist Sally Rooney, has vowed to continue supporting the group Palestine Action, in spite of the group’s designation as a terrorist group in the UK, as reported by Middle East Eye on August 18th.

Writing in The Irish Times on August 16th, the author condemned the arrests of over 500 protestors, who were protesting the prohibition of the direct action group in London. Many of those detained carried signs such as: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine action.”

The UK’s Labour-led government outlawed Palestine Action on July 4th, placing it in the same league as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State under British jurisdiction. It is now a criminal act to express or encourage support for the group, punishable by up to 14 years in jail under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Other European countries, including Germany, have also carried out crackdowns on pro-Palestinian activism.

Critics have condemned the ban as a dangerous encroachment on the right to protest, arguing that the criminalisation of political dissent sets a troubling precedent.

“Palestine Action… is responsible for zero deaths and has never advocated the use of violence against any human being,” the Intermezzo author said.

Rooney further compared the banning of the group to the lack of action undertaken to censor or outlaw Unionist extremist tendencies in Northern Ireland. “Why then are its supporters arrested for wearing T-shirts, while murals celebrating loyalist death squads are left untouched?” she said, in reference to a mural in Belfast depicting the Ulster Volunteer Force, which is a a Loyalist Northern Irish paramilitary group.

Since the ban of Palestine Action, over 700 individuals have been arrested at non-violent protests in support of the group. The arrests of the protestors in London marked the biggest arrests in the history of London’s Metropolitan Police. Almost 100 of those arrested at the Palestine Action sit-in were 70-somethings, while 15 were over 80 years old.

Whilst there has been a broad shift in favour of the Palestinian cause across the West since the beginning of 2025, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announcing plans to formally recognise a Palestinian state before the end of year, legislation continues to attack the Palestinian cause.

Middle East Eye