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Greta Thunberg Arrested in UK for Supporting Palestine Action and Opposing Gaza Genocide
Thunberg joined a call for British officials to meet with the lawyers of Palestine Action protesters who have been on a hunger strike in prison.
Dec 23, 2025
"Because in the world we live in, Western leaders can arm a genocide and walk free—while Greta Thunberg is arrested as a dangerous terrorist supporter."
That was the assessment of journalist Owen Jones on Tuesday after the Swedish climate justice leader was arrested in London outside the offices of Aspen Insurance, a company that provides services to an Israeli weapons maker, where she had been seated on the ground with a sign stating, "I support Palestine Action prisoners, I oppose genocide."
The protest was in solidarity with demonstrators who have been imprisoned for taking part in nonviolent direct actions with the UK-based group Palestine Action. The government banned Palestine Action in July as a terrorist group, making it the first group to be declared as such under part of the UK Terrorism Act that defines "serious damage to property" as an act of terror—rather than violence against people.
Under the law, anyone who displays items or clothing that "arouse reasonable suspicion" of support for Palestine Action can be punished with up to six months in prison.
Thunberg is one of thousands of people who have taken to the streets in support since the group's proscription, and one of about 2,000 people who have been arrested for doing so. Two other activists were also arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.
In Thunberg's case, a spokesperson for City of London police said "she has been arrested for displaying an item (in this case a placard) in support of a proscribed organization (in this case Palestine Action) contrary to section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000.”
The protest was specifically in support of eight people who have been on a hunger strike to protest their imprisonment and Israel's continued attacks and blocking of essential aid in Gaza.
Greta Thunberg has been arrested for supporting the Palestine Action hunger strikers.
Because in the world we live in, Western leaders can arm a genocide and walk free - while Greta Thunberg is arrested as a dangerous terrorist supporter. pic.twitter.com/faGxR9QbJj
— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) December 23, 2025
At least two of the prisoners are in their 52nd day of the hunger strike, and medical professionals have raised grave concerns about their health. Advocates in the UK have also demanded that the Labour government meet with lawyers for the detainees. On Monday, attorneys for the activists said in a letter that the government's refusal to meet with them violates the Ministry of Justice's policy for handling cases of hunger strikes.
“It is up to the state to intervene and put an end to this by meeting these reasonable demands that pave the way for the freedom of all those who choose to use their rights trying to stop a genocide, something the British state has failed to do themselves," said Thunberg.
Member of Parliament Zarah Sultana, co-founder of the socialist Your Party, said that government leaders in the UK, who have continued to back Israel's attacks on Gaza, should be imprisoned, rather than those protesting.
"Greta Thunberg has just been arrested for opposing genocide," said Sultana. "Meanwhile, [Prime Minister] Keir Starmer—complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people—walks free. He should be arrested and sent to The Hague."
Journalist Matt Kennard said images of police confiscating Thunberg's sign and arresting her "will be studied in history books."
"Fascism is already here," he added.
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UK Medical Professionals Warn Palestine Action Hunger Strikers 'Will Die in Prison'
“I hope it doesn’t have to come to that because these demands are very, very simple,” said a friend to one of the activists. “They are asking the British government to uphold international and national law.”
Dec 19, 2025
Eight Palestine Action activists in the UK are at risk of dying in prison as they remain on hunger strike to protest their detention, according to hundreds of medical professionals.
More than 800 doctors, nurses, and therapists wrote to Justice Secretary David Lammy on Thursday to warn that the detainees, who are all between the ages of 20 and 31, were not receiving adequate medical care. The activists are being held in five prisons on remand, meaning that they are kept in prison before trial without being released on bail.
"Without resolution, there is the real and increasingly likely potential that young British citizens will die in prison, having never even been convicted of an offense,” the campaigners said.
At least five of the hunger strikers have reportedly been hospitalized after refusing food for weeks. Two of the strikers, Amu Gib and Qesser Zuhrah, have refused food for 48 days, while another, Heba Muraisi, has refused for 47.
Ella Moulsdale, a fellow activist and friend of Zurah's, told ITV: "It's very hard to watch her walk right now. She has almost no energy to, so she walks extremely slowly, with her back hunched in pain. She still wants me to hug her, but she can't hug back at all."
"Any day after day 35 is considered final and severe, when your body essentially starts to eat itself," Moulsdale said. "Her body is clearly working overtime, and it doesn't have enough fuel to keep her alive."
The eight hunger strikers are among 33 people arrested in connection with two direct actions against entities they argue are taking part in Israel’s human rights violations in Palestine.
Four were arrested for alleged involvement in a 2024 break-in at a facility in Filton for Elbit Systems, Israel's largest arms manufacturer and the primary supplier of weapons and surveillance technology used in the genocide in Gaza and Israel's occupation of the West Bank.
After breaking into the facility, activists are accused of having dismantled military equipment, including quadcopter drones, which have been used to kill and maim Palestinians in Gaza, sometimes reportedly playing the sounds of crying women and babies to lure them out of hiding. The activists also allegedly destroyed other weapons systems, computers, and manufacturing equipment, totaling over £1 million. In September, Elbit quietly closed down the site.
Four others are accused of trespassing at a British Royal Air Force base in Norton, where they reportedly sprayed red paint on the engines of two aircraft. According to one report, since December 2023, the RAF has conducted over 1,000 hours worth of surveillance over Gaza, communicating intelligence to the Israeli military.
The Labour Party government, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, added Palestine Action to a list of banned "terrorist" organizations in July, which made membership in or support for the group a criminal offense.
According to Amnesty International, more than 600 people were arrested for peacefully supporting the group between November 18 and 29. In October, over 500 protesters were arrested on a single day, mostly for holding signs calling on British authorities to lift the ban.
Since the ban went into effect, more than 2,700 people have been arrested across the UK over support for or involvement with Palestine Action. The UK has seen a more than 660% increase in "terrorism" related arrests since September as a result of the ban.
Dr. James Smith, an emergency physician and lecturer at University College London, told ITV that the activists on hunger strike need specialist medical care that they are not receiving.
According to Smith, 200 members of the British Medical Association wrote a letter to the organization's leadership "to sound the alarm" about "substandard monitoring and treatment" for the prisoners.
"The hunger strikers are at imminent risk of irreversible damage to their bodies, and of death," Smith said. “It is my view, as [a National Health Service] doctor, that the complexity of the hunger strikers’ care needs must now be managed with regular specialist input if not continuous monitoring in hospital.”
"Put simply, the hunger strikers are dying,” he added at a press conference Thursday. “They are all now at a critical stage.”
Earlier this week, a group of 51 members of parliament and peers wrote a separate letter urging Lammy to meet with lawyers for the eight prisoners. UK Prison Minister Lord James Timpson dismissed the request, saying he would not meet with any of the prisoners or their attorneys: "I don't treat any prisoners any differently from any other," he said.
On Wednesday, former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is now an independent MP, wrote Lammy another letter asking if he shared the minister's satisfaction, and reiterating that the eight prisoners are "at serious risk of death" amid "regular breaches of prison conditions and prison rules."
"The Ministry of Justice is still refusing to meet with the lawyers or families of hunger strikers being held on remand," Corbyn said in a post on social media. "This is a shambolic dereliction of duty. I have written to David Lammy, again, imploring him to do the right thing before it is too late."
Starmer responded to Corbyn's criticisms himself in Parliament that same day: “He will appreciate there are rules and procedures in place in relation to hunger strikes, and we’re following those rules and procedures."
The hunger strikers have demanded immediate bail and the right to a fair trial. They have also called for an end to the censorship of their communications, a lift on the ban against Palestine Action, and the closing of all UK sites run by Elbit.
Asked if her friend Zurah would continue to refuse food even as she reaches deadly stages, Moulsdale said, "That's ultimately her decision to make."
"I hope it doesn't have to come to that because these demands are very, very simple," she said. "They are asking the British government to uphold international and national law."
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BBC Vows to Fight Trump's $10 Billion Lawsuit Over Documentary Editing
"This is about the BBC’s independence," said one former BBC official. "So they should definitely fight it."
Dec 16, 2025
The British Broadcasting Corporation vowed to fight back against President Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit filed on Monday—the latest legal challenge brought by the president against a media organization over its coverage of him.
A spokesperson for the BBC said in a brief statement on Tuesday, "We will be defending this case" after Trump filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Florida, alleging that the network defamed him and violated the state's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act when it aired edited comments he made in a speech on January 6, 2021, just before thousands of his supporters attacked the US Capitol.
Before last year's presidential election, the BBC series Panorama aired a documentary titled "Trump: A Second Chance?" The film includes a section featuring Trump's speech to a crowd in Washington, DC on January 6, with two clips of him speaking about 50 minutes apart spliced together, making it appear as though he directly urged people to march to the Capitol.
With his lawsuit, Trump has suggested the edited clip created the impression that he incited violence—though several journalists have noted that those allegations predate the documentary. The edited clip received little attention until recent months when the right-wing Daily Telegraph published details from a memo by Michael Prescott, a former BBC standards adviser with links to the Conservative Party.
In the memo, Prescott took aim at the documentary's editing and alleged a "pro-transgender bias" and "anti-Israel bias"in the BBC's news coverage.
Trump's lawsuit cites the internal review mentioned in Prescott's memo, alleging “a string of incidents that demonstrate serious bias in the corporation’s reporting.”
The BBC has publicly apologized for the editing of the documentary, but has denied that Trump has a legitimate basis for a defamation claim.
The lawsuit is Trump's latest against a media company over coverage of him. At least two cases—against ABC and CBS and its parent company, Paramount, have ended in settlements, with the companies agreeing to pay the president $16 million each. He also has a defamation case pending against the New York Times.
On Monday, Trump gave a muddled explanation of his latest lawsuit while speaking to the press at the White House, falsely claiming the BBC was accused of using AI to make him say "things [he] never said" in the documentary.
"Trump is suing the BBC. He doesn’t know why. But he’s suing anyway," said BBC presenter Sangita Myska.
Trump: "I'm suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth ... I guess they used AI or something" pic.twitter.com/VxYMDp6oZ2
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 15, 2025
Richard Tice, deputy leader of the right-wing Reform Party, expressed support for Trump's lawsuit on Tuesday and agreed with the push for "wholesale change" at the BBC. Christopher Ruddy of the Trump-aligned network Newsmax also told The Guardian that the BBC should "figure out a quick and easy settlement."
But on the network's "Today" program, former BBC Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer said that "it would be extremely damaging to the BBC’s reputation not to fight the case."
"This is about the BBC’s independence," said Damazer. "And, unlike American media organizations which have coughed up the money, the BBC doesn’t have commercial business interests that depend on President Trump’s beneficence in the White House. So they should definitely fight it."
"The BBC has likely an extremely strong case," he added. "The 1960s established a very wide margin of press freedom in a case called Sullivan v. The New York Times, from which the BBC would undoubtedly benefit... President Trump was not harmed by what the BBC mistakenly did in its Panorama edit. The program wasn’t shown in the United States. He was neither financially nor politically hurt, and the BBC should definitely fight this case."
Zoe Gardner, a researcher and commentator on migration policy in the UK, denounced "far-right politicians and pundits" for "cheering" Trump's lawsuit.
"Given the BBC is publicly funded, this is Donald Trump suing you and me," Gardner said. "It’s a pathetic cry-bully attack on journalism by a wannabe dictator and an attack on every British person."
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