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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n Not guilty verdicts and hung jury<\/p>\n Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31,<\/a> were all acquitted of aggravated burglary by the jury after more than 36 hours of deliberation.<\/p>\n \t Rajwani, Rogers and Devlin were found not guilty of violent disorder, while the jury could not reach verdicts on the same charge against Head, Corner and Kamio.<\/p>\n The jury could also not reach verdicts on an additional charge of criminal damage.<\/p>\n Corner had also denied causing grievous bodily harm with intent for hitting a female police sergeant with a sledgehammer. The jury was unable to agree a verdict on that count.<\/p>\n The defendants hugged in the dock and waved to supporters in the public gallery, who cheered loudly after the judge had left the court.<\/p>\n Prosecutors said they wanted time to consider whether to seek a retrial on the counts on which the jury could not reach verdicts.<\/p>\n Palestine Action ban faces court challenge<\/p>\n Britain proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist organization last July, almost a year after the Elbit incident took place, making it a crime to be a member. The ban has separately come under challenge at London\u2019s High Court.<\/p>\n Judge Jeremy Johnson had told the jury the ban was irrelevant to the criminal trial and they must consider the case \u201con the evidence, not on the basis of what you or anyone else thinks about Palestine Action or the war in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n Prosecutor Deanna Heer said the defendants intended to \u201ccause serious damage to property and to use or threaten unlawful violence against anyone who stood in their way, if necessary with the use of weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Defend Our Juries, a campaign group organising protests calling for the ban on Palestine Action to be lifted, celebrated Wednesday\u2019s verdicts.<\/p>\n \u201cThese verdicts put to bed the deceitful accusations from ministers that these brave activists are \u2018violent criminals,’\u201d said Defend Our Juries.<\/p>\n Jewish leaders call for retrial<\/p>\n The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the largest Jewish organization in the United Kingdom, said in\u00a0a statement<\/a>\u00a0that it was \u201cconcerned by the troubling verdicts acquitting members of Palestine Action.\u201d Alleging that the group had targeted \u201cbusinesses linked to the Jewish community in London and Manchester,\u201d the group called for a retrial on the charges in which the jury did not reach a verdict.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile it is important to respect the integrity of the judicial process, there is a serious danger of perverse justifications being used as a shield for criminality,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cIt cannot be the case that those who commit serious criminal acts, including violent assaults, are able to evade the consequences of their actions.\u201d<\/p>\n In an op-ed<\/a> published in The Telegraph titled\u00a0\u201cThe Palestine Action acquittals are telling British Jews they have no future here,\u201d\u00a0former Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard argued that \u201cthe message of the case is this: you can smash the spine of a police officer and so long as you are doing it because of \u2018Palestine\u2019, you can walk home free.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat decision, I believe, may come to be seen as the single most significant case in the history of Anglo-Jewry since 1945,\u201d continued Pollard. \u201cIt shows that the game is up. We can no longer rely on the criminal justice system. And when the law is no longer there to protect us, who or what will?\u201d<\/p>\n JTA contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tIllustrative: Activists from the Palestine Action group protest at the gates of a factory owned by Ferranti, a British subsidiary of Elbit Systems, in England on February 1, 2021. (Paul Ellis\/AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AFP__20250623__63EY6Q7__v1__HighRes__BritainIsraelPalestiniansConflictDemo-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tPolice officers monitor protesters holding a banner during a protest in support of anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action, in Trafalgar Square, central London, on June 23, 2025. (Henry Nicholls \/ AFP)<\/p>\n
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