man arrested at pro-palestine protest after police misread 'plasticine action' t-shirt

Police mistakenly arrested a protester over terrorism offences because they thought his ‘Plasticine Action’ T-shirt read ‘Palestine Action.’

Miles Pickering,59,says senior officers burst out laughing when they realised the blunder before releasing him without charge.

He told Metro that he turned up to a protest in Parliament Square on August 9 over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza wearing the T-shirt.

However,when a police officer saw the tee,he arrested the 59-year-old and hauled him to Scotland Yard.

This shirt was only a few jumbled letters away from Palestine Action,a group banned under terrorism legislation last month.

Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 makes it illegal to wear anything supporting a banned organisation.

Miles Pickering was arrested under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act (Picture: David McHugh/Brighton Pictures)

Instead,the T-shirt was for Plasticine Action,a group of artists who campaign against animation generated by artificial intelligence (AI)

Plasticine is a modelling material used to create stop-motion figures,such as the character Morph,who features on Miles’ shirt.

Miles,from Brighton,told Metro: ‘He must have misinterpreted the fact that I was wearing a Plasticine Action T-shirt as me wearing a Palestine Action T-shirt.

‘I do not support Palestine Action and was not at the protest to support them.

‘But I was definitely there to protest genocide and the government’s role,as well as to highlight the plight of animators losing their work in this country.’

The protest itself led to 532 arrests on terrorism charges,almost all under section 13 of the Terrorism Act.

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