Eight sign holders in Totnes and three in Edinburgh on Saturday sat for sixty minutes without being arrested under the Terrorism Act after they joined a nationwide wave of protest as part of the Defend Our Juries’ campaign, Lift The Ban, opposing the Home Secretary’s classification of the direct action group Palestine Action, as a ‘terrorist’ organisation.

The protesters were all sat peacefully holding the same signs reading: “I oppose genocide.

I support Palestine Action” that more than 200 people have previously been arrested for holding since the proscription order came into force on July 5 this year.

In Totnes protesters were joined by dozens more holding signs with their own wording, as well as people holding trades union flags and hundreds of supporters singing “Lift the ban, now, for Gaza” and applauding speeches calling for the Home Secretary to lift the ban.

The proscription of Palestine Action has resulted in a policing response which has included an arrest for holding up a Private Eye cartoon and over a dozen peaceful sign-holders having their houses broken into and raided.

Award-winning author and journalist George Monbiot joined the protest in Totnes but chose to hold a different sign that said: “Palestine Action are protesters not terrorists”.

Local police decided not to arrest him either.

Monbiot said: "The proscription of Palestine Action is the most illiberal thing any Home Secretary has done for at least 30 years.

“The result is an Orwellian situation, in which people gently calling for peace are arrested under the Terrorism Act, while the government actively assists Israeli state terror, as it perpetrates genocide in Gaza.

“This is an assault on free speech, on logic and on human decency."

In a letter to police ahead of the demo, the Totnes residents urged them to take action to stop the government’s complicity in genocide: “In continuing to support the Israeli government in its genocide, including through the ongoing export of parts for F-35 fighter jets, the British government is commiting crimes under the Genocide Act 1969, which is binding in UK law.”

80-year old Mary Light who was sign-holding in Totnes said: “I am a retired nurse.

“I am horrified to see the utter cruelty unleashed by the Israeli government and army.

“Parents are having to watch their children die from starvation, children seeing a dearly loved parent lying dead, waiting to be buried in a mass grave.

“As a nurse, I’m also appalled by the targeted destruction of hospitals and the torture, imprisonment and killing of medical staff.

“Over 1,400 healthcare workers have died—this is a war on Gaza’s healthcare.”

Artist and grandmother Ruth Ben-Tovim who was also sign-holding in Totnes said: ‘’Resistance is lawful, resisting genocide is not wrong—it is a moral and legal obligation.

“Palestine Action have been labelled “terrorists” for protest actions including spray‑painting military aircraft to highlight UK arms complicity with Israel’s genocide.

“Once “terrorism” means “economic damage” or “embarrassment, freedom of expression ceases to exist.

“We are just ordinary people, but we can't be bystanders and ignore what is happening.

“We stand to show solidarity, to make visible the brutal implications of this law, and to oppose our government’s role in genocide.”