𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has backed a pro-Palestine Action protest group accused of violent disorder, including an alleged sledgehammer attack that fractured a police officer’s spine. Mr Polanski criticised the detention of the campaigners on remand, describing it as an “egregious volition”, despite remand routinely being used in serious criminal cases involving violence and public safety concerns. The activists are being held ahead of trial over a series of high-profile incidents linked to Palestine Action, a group which was proscribed under terrorism laws earlier this year. At the time of the alleged offences, the group was not yet proscribed.

Court proceedings have already heard allegations that one police officer suffered a spinal fracture after being struck with a sledgehammer during an attack on an Elbit Systems site near the west country city of Bristol. The defendants deny the charges. The case includes alleged offences including aggravated burglary, criminal damage and violent disorder, with prosecutors telling the court that the campaigners had been “willing participants” in plans to cause damage to the plant.

Despite the seriousness of the allegations, Mr Polanski has become the latest in a line of left-wing politicians to express support for the detainees, who claim to be undertaking a hunger strike while they await trial.

Security experts condemned Mr Polanski’s stance, and warned it undermined the rule of law and public confidence in policing.

Andrew Fox, a senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, said it was “astonishing” for the leader of a British political party to show sympathy for activists accused of such violence.

He said: “It is astonishing that a leader of a British political party, an aspiring Prime Minister, should publicly sympathise with members of a proscribed terror group.”

He added: “Palestine Action members broke a police officer’s spine with a sledgehammer and damaged our national security by vandalising RAF planes. They are now attempting to blackmail our legal system by refusing food.”

Mr Fox said that Mr Polanski’s “sympathies ought to be with the injured police officer, our nation’s defences, and British justice—not with those who attacked them.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp MP said:

“Another ridiculous tweet from the Green Party leader.

“Palestine Action has committed deliberate criminal damage against various premises, used a sledgehammer to attack a police officer, and deliberately sabotaged RAF planes.

“Using violence to advance a political agenda is never acceptable. It’s a shame the Green Party leader does not seem to agree.”

Last week tensions escalated once again when pro-Palestine demonstrators targeted the Ministry of Justice building in central London, daubing it with red paint.

At the time police confirmed officers were called and two had been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.

The demonstration had been staged in support of detainees awaiting trial, some of whom could remain in custody for more than a year before their case is heard.

During the protest, one passer-by was heard telling an activist claiming to be on hunger strike to “eat a sandwich”.

The Ministry of Justice said vandalism was “totally unacceptable” and stressed that prisoners refusing food were being managed under established procedures, with medical support in place.

Nearly 30 Palestine Action-affiliated activists are currently awaiting trial over incidents that occurred before the organisation was formally proscribed.

In the Bristol case, jurors were told that six defendants allegedly planned the August 2024 break-in in advance, targeting a defence manufacturer supplying military technology.

The judge instructed jurors that the later proscription of Palestine Action was irrelevant to the evidence before them.

Critics say Mr Polanski’s remarks risk normalising political support for groups accused of serious criminality, while failing to acknowledge the alleged victims.

Opposition figures said it was “deeply troubling” that senior politicians appeared more concerned with the treatment of accused protesters than with injured officers and national security.

The Green Party leader did not respond to requests for comment when approached by this paper.