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[Video] Cops not sure whether to arrest man with "Plasticine Action" shirt for supporting terrorism

Not The Onion @lemmy.world

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Cops not sure whether to arrest man with "Plasticine Action" shirt for supporting terrorism

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UK Politics @feddit.uk

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Cops not sure whether to arrest man with "Plasticine Action" shirt for supporting terrorism

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160 comments

This guy got de-arrested
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/18/protester-arrested-wearing-plasticine-action-t-shirt-palestine-gaza-protest
Hopefully everyone will buy these t-shirts just to take the piss
- About five minutes later, the arresting officer approached him again. “He said: ‘I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.’ I said: ‘What’s the good news?’ He said: ‘I’m de-arresting you.’
  “And I said: ‘What’s the bad news?’ He said: ‘It’s going to be really embarrassing for me.’ And then I walked free, while all the real heroes are the people that are actually getting arrested.”
  The officer seems to understand his mistake at least
  
  The poor copper lost all that time arresting a guy with Plasticine Action on his t-shirt only to have to de-arrest him when he could've been arresting an old lady with the words "Palestine Action" written down on a piece of paper for her to be prosecuted and maybe even get a jail sentence.
  That mistake was making it hard for him to make his quota of arrests for that week, the poor bloke.
- Pickering has made copies of the T-shirt, which he is selling through his own website to raise money for the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians. It has sold in 28 countries already.
- Start a glassware company called Pal-3 Steins, sell merch for your new sale: Free Pal-3 Steins!
- I reckon the T-Shirts need some artwork as well to reduce confusion. Maybe some 1980s Plasticine Claymation TV show characters like Gumby and Pokey.
  https://duckduckgo.com/?q=gumby+pokey&ia=images
  
  No. It's supposed to cause confusion. It's supposed to allow people to legally skirt the law.

Pardon my ignorance, but is wearing a shirt with the word Palestine on it and arrestable offense in England?
- Palestine Action yes. An activism organization called Palestine Action was classified as a terrorist organization a few weeks ago by the UK government.
  
  Y'all seem to have a lot going on across the pond, what with "who's a terrorist," or "is this dystopian?"
  Have y'all considered electing a terrorist leader so that you instantly know the answers to those questions?
  
  Ah, thanks for the explanation
  
  A yes "the terrorist organization" label to censor anything they don't agree. Don't forget they're trying to classify drug cartels/gangs as "terrorist organizations" too as excuses to invade other countries, specially in the global south.
- Pretty sure that's Scotland, not England (Glasgow to be specific). But yeah, the British government decided carrying a Palestine Action sign was basically terrorism.
- It is now!
- But it doesn't even say that.
  
  I'm aware. He was being harassed for something similar which was why I asked

I've got a friend trying to move from the United States to England to escape our current shit show, and I've been telling him that England tends to do what America does, just with a posh accent to give it an air of legitimacy.
- If you think they do it with a posh accent you've not been to England lol
  
  I'm mainly thinking of Tony Blair making the same case for invading Iraq that George W. Bush was, just with the accent.
  
  in US english posh is a synonym for british
  /s (½)
- Nowhere is truly safe at this point. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
  
  I'm currently working out moving to Jamaica. Got a friend there to help, but he says it ain't all sunshine and cheap pot like the movies.
- Didn't /u/flyingsquid move to England? He hasn't posted in 6 months :o
  
  Yeah, he moved into the badlands near Manchester. Ever seen the movie "The hills have eyes"? Its like that up there.
- They've got better Healthcare (for now). Other than that, yeah I don't think they're doing much better. In a lot of ways they're worse. It could be argued either way which is worse, depending on your opinions on a few things.
  
  eh, we've got pubs and chips.
  oh also went back to the States last week and was appalled that a pint can cost upwards of $10 when a decade ago it was only $6 (London prices have stayed around £6-7). throw on the whole tip racketeering insanity and I'd much rather be in England.
- Oh, as not great as they are, they aren't even close to being as bad as US.
  
  You're both selling them short. The UK is awful in ways that the Americans can only aspire to. They are each doing their own horrible things, just trading a bit of horrible culture now and then.
  
  I think he is saying they are following the same path, just a few steps behind. So if the US is running over a cliff, the UK will probably consider that a blazed trail and head in that direction too.
  So yeah, the US sped up. Doesn't mean the UK isn't trying to follow.
  
  Modern history, maybe not, but historically, the British Empire was the worst.
- At this point, leaving England for America is the saner choice...
  I mean unless you're brown, then ICE will just lock you away if you try
  
  I don't know, we locked up an extremely white new Zealander for 3 weeks at the border recently...
  
  Nah. It's not great here but that's like leaving the frying pan and jumping into a volcano that's actively erupting. ICE aren't just racist, they get off on hurting people and they're really not bothered who they are.
  In some ways they're very progressive. They abduct and abuse everyone equally.

It’s already working. Due to the terrorism claims, each of these arrests requires a special review, and the system is being overwhelmed. Get a few more hundred or thousands of people to get an arrest for this, and the whole government scheme will have to be abandoned, because there will be no practical way for system to follow the required procedures for each case.
- Fascists get pretty clever at solving that problem. They create these camps where they can just concentrate them in one place.
  
  The British invented them in fact!!
  
  It can't be any worse than Butlins
  
  Oooh they should come up with a clever name for them... Focus Groups? Nah that doesn't quite work.
- See how that worked out for USA, when push came to shove - the law was abandoned.
  
  Yes, and that will be an important lesson to people. Then we can move to the next step to topple the capitalists.
- laughs in American prison system
  
  There isn't enough prison places in the UK. They'd have to let actual criminals out early so they can arrest a grandmother. I don't think even they are insane enough to actually do that the media would eat them alive.
- so then they declare martial law
- Every city has had the capacity to bus a few thousand people to a holding facility since at least the 2000s

You have the right to free speech...as long as... you're not dumb enough to actually try it.
- Can't waste a day when the night brings a hearse
  So make a move and plead the fifth 'cause ya can't plead the first
- I'm giving hope by the fact that the police clearly don't know what to do with the situation. So they're not automatically arresting everyone in the street for disagreeing with them. Probably because they realise they get lynched if they tried that

Not fans of claymation, I guess.
- Not fans of AI, actually. Under the Plasticine Action, it says "WE OPPOSE AI GENERATED ANIMATION"
- We need the Pingu version of V for Vendetta.
  Noot noot!
  
  I swear to god Pingo used to speak English. I have very clear memories of episodes with dialogue. I think I may have somehow transferred from another universe at some point.

In what other profession are you allowed to just stand there in public with a constant hand on someone?
- Who is Donald Trump on Jeffrey Epstein’s island, Alex.
- I mean.. The act of not allowing you to leave is the problem here not the fact he is maintaining contact with his forearm.
  
  I take offense at the unwanted contact.
  If I were to do this to someone, they would have me arrested for it in addition to restraining them. Therefore fuck these pigs. Why are they above that?

Pal,It'sTime _for Action
Oh sorry didn't see you there officer, I was just saying its time for my #sick dance 🕺 moves, is dancing a crime, officer? 😏

To be fair, the (good) British cops are by far not as likely to assault an innocent person as many others. But they do love to stop you and have a chat if even the tiniest thing stands out. I once walked around London, 15 years old, with toy handcuffs on one wrist. Cop came up to me and wanted to know the whole story, like one of those super-chatty people. Where are you from, how old, name, where are the cuffs from, why am I wearing them right now at this moment, ...
He seemed happy with the answers, and we both moved on.
Well, it's still a bother, especially when you are not free to walk away at any moment.
- If the toy looked like the real thing, You are 15, an underage with handcuffs, for all he know someone was trying to keep you captive and you manage to get out or you plan to cause damage and handdcuff someone. Good for him to make sure no one actually was hurting you..
- Yeah before anybody spoke I was fairly clued in that this was not America by the fact that the cops were just standing there acting chill instead of holding him on the ground and screaming at him to stop resisting arrest.
  
  It also helps that it's in public and they are being filmed.

Palestinian Faction is still allowed, no?
- Would have also taken Pleistocene reaction.

British authorities: you not only have to decide that approximations of a representation of an outlawed group are illegal, which is shaky ground at best, but you would also have to decide that open support of a group that is guilty only of vandalism of military assets is also illegal. To do so, without encroaching on the fucking Magna Carta, which y’all invented, would require an assertion that direct action on behalf of a subset of members of the group disallows the freedom of expression to support the group writ large.
UPDATE: apparently the Magna Carta had to deal with power dynamics between the crown and various lords but was symbolic in that it reduced the power of the crown in its formerly dictatorial approach.
Apparently censorship is a complex ass topic in English history and has undergone continuous stepwise changes over the centuries, in areas as diverse as theatrical plays, print media, and speakers corners in Hyde park.
Y’all still be a bunch of removed when it comes to freedom of expression though. The country of Orwell my hairy ass.

Are you sure it's the T Shirt and not those socks they're arresting him for...?

Picture yourself in a train in a station
With Palestine porters with looking glass ties

It's not just the two we see - they are apparently in radio contact with additional tax fraudsters / wasters, probably of higher rank or even with a law degree.
Never let them tell they need more funds. Could defund plenty without affecting any actual service one bit.
- I mean at least they are actually discussing if this is arrestable, in the USA, cops would just shoot you.

I'm sorry, I just see a bunch of people standing around.
- They are holding his arm, so he is at least detained.
  
  I didn't see that. I was busy looking at his shirt because I didn't even know what it meant.

Anyone else clueless as I am? I'm not in a position to turn on sound if there is any
- They aren't saying anything, but here's the context. The UK criminalized ~~pro-Palestinian slogans in public~~ a pro-Palestinian rights group called Palestinian Action. They use several slogans, most notably the "Support Palestine Action" slogan. They recently arrested a bunch of people for peacefully protesting with this group.
  This guy has a shirt that says "Support Plasticene Action" which, notably, does not reference Palestine at all though the words have an aesthetic similarity to the Palestine slogan. So the pigs are trying to see if they can arrest him for ~~hate speech~~ fucking terrorism (wow) or not.
  Edit: got some important facts wrong, so corrected
  
  This is close, but it is specifically in regards to a group called Palestinian Action, not Palestine or Palestinian people in general. The British government declared the group Palestine Action a terrorist group, and there is a preexisting law from 2000 which makes it illegal to support 'terrorist groups'.
  Of course the whole thing is ridiculous (Palestinian Action has never even hurt anyone), and many people have been publicly supporting Palestinian Action in protest. Over 500 people were arrested at a protest on the 10th.
  
  How is supporting a victim of war crimes 'hate speech'?

What's going on with the guy with a plaid shirt and baseball cap?
- Could be a friend or a member of the public joining to observe, get contact info, identify where the guy would be taken, coordinate jail support, etc...
  Idk if that's a thing in the UK tho.
  Could just as well be malicious. Can't know without further evidence.
- Jus chillin'
- Might be undercover.

Why not just get a load of stickers and slap em on every car bus etc flood the streets
- Because that would actually give them something to arrest you for. You can't just put stickers on other people's property, that actually is illegal.

combining words of the pleistocene and Palestine.

Scot Squad in action

Why do these deep-fried rectums need to be in quasi-military garb and high-visibility vests?
- I'm all for saying fuck the police, but what are you talking about with quasi-military garb and why are you bashing them for wearing high-vis vests?
  These look like the worst equipped cops I've ever seen. I'm from the USA and I've seen Italian Police look harder than these guys, they at least had cars and sub-machine guns. These guys have boots, handcuffs, pepper spray, a fucking belt mounted medkit, a collapsible billy club, a baseball cap, cheap-ass-commercial-laundry-uniform-contract cargo pants, a black t-shirt, and a stab vest. The pigs don't even have guns and they are wearing "please-don't-run-me-over" safety vests.
  The guys on the street have the right reaction, there's obviously no threat here.
  
  Dude, the Carabinieri are fucking SCARY. I’d rather face a US state trooper and a Canadian Mountie at the same time.
- That's a British police uniform, standard issue.
  
  All black with a high visibility vest, arresting people for words. Nice country.

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