Woman, 22, arrested on suspicion of supporting Hamas after protest in Brighton
Hamas and its military wing are proscribed organisations
Counter-terrorism police have arrested a young woman on suspicion of supporting Hamas following a protest in Brighton.
The woman, 22, was arrested on Thursday under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Section 12 makes it an offence to invite support for an organisation that has been proscribed terrorist by the government.
Hamas IDQ, the military wing of Hamas, was proscribed by the Home Office in March 2001. The proscription was extended to cover Hamas in its entirety in November 2021.
The suspect was arrested after police reviewed footage from a pro-Palestine demonstration in Brighton on Sunday after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack in Israel the previous day.
Superintendent Petra Lazar from Sussex Police said: “After reviewing footage from the protest event held in Brighton on Sunday, 8 October the matter was investigated by Counter-Terrorism Policing South East. We will continue to support them as they conduct their investigation.
“We are aware that the ongoing conflict in Israel and the border with Gaza is generating public concern and is impacting communities globally and locally, and we extend our support to those affected in Sussex.
“Sussex Police has increased visibility across parts of Sussex to provide an increased presence and reassurance to our local communities.
“We recognise there is the potential for increased tensions and are engaging and working with communities and partners to ensure people feel safe and protected.”
“Officers would like to speak to anyone who attended the protest, particularly those who may have footage of the protest and speech.
“Anyone with helpful information has been asked to call 101, quoting reference 781 of 07/10.”
Dozens of people took part in a rally in Brighton on Saturday after war broke out between Israel and Hamas, a conflict which has already claimed thousands of lives.
The conflict unfolded after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on Saturday morning, with Israel responding with retaliatory strikes and readying its military for a possible ground invasion.
The Israeli Defence Forces last night issued a 24-hour evacuation notice to Gazans in the northern regions at midnight on Friday, saying areas near Gaza City had been used for Hamas’s “military operations”.
The IDF called on all civilians to leave the area and head southward, a task that the United Nations said was “impossible”. Moving through the densely-populated, heavily destroyed region would be too difficult, they said.
Palestinian civilians living in northern Gaza have said they are ignoring the Israeli order to evacuate southward because they have “no place to go”, sparking fears that they could become victims of the anticipated ground offensive.
The United Nations has urged Israel to rethink its evacuation notice, warning that it would likely result in hundreds more civilian deaths.