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.

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.

Miles was also nicked under Section 13 and was taken to two gazebos handling the large queues of arrested people.

Protesters cheered Miles and others on, the engineer recalled, saying: ‘”Well done,” “You’re a hero”, “You’re fantastic”.’

‘I’m pointing to my T-shirt and going, “Have a look, Plasticine Action”,’ Miles said.

‘I put my fingers to my lips like, “shh, don’t tell the police”. And everyone’s laughing and taking photos. And the crowd can see what’s happening.’

As he was waiting in line to be booked in, a senior officer asked the arresting officer if Miles could be detained under Section 12, which would bring more serious charges of supporting a proscribed group.

Miles said: ‘My arresting officer said, “I can’t,” and the senior officer said, “Why not?”

‘And he said, “Because he hasn’t got Palestine Action written on him. He’s got Plasticine Action written on him”.’

Miles claims that 10 minutes later, two plainclothes police officers approached him and burst out laughing after seeing his shirt.

‘They both look at me, and they said, “Can you just hold your scarf out of the way, please, sir?” So I did that, and they both laughed quite a lot.’

Shortly after, Miles was let go.

‘The arresting officer says, “I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is I’m de-arresting you”,’ Miles added.

‘And I said: ‘What’s the bad news?’ He said, “It’s going to be really embarrassing for me”.’

Miles’ friend, Cara Brenna, 50, who was not present at the rally, said Miles is a ‘lovely guy who stands up for what is right’.

‘He’s just using humour to show how crazy things are,’ the creative artist and charity fundraiser told Metro.

‘The fact that he was arrested for wearing a T-shirt saying, “Plasticine Action”? We need to have a look at what is happening and what common sense is.’

The Brighton local added: ‘The police’s job is to protect the people, but is that being done?’

After footage of Miles’ arrest went viral online, demand for more copies of the shirt has skyrocketed. Profits go to the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians.

According to the product pages at the time of writing, 1,745 white and black Plasticine Action T-shirts have been sold.

Miles said: ‘What do the police do with people who are walking around with Plasticine Action T-shirts?

‘And if another 1,000 people are wearing our T-shirt, or even 500, are they really gonna arrest them as well?’

Footage over the weekend from another pro-Palestine protest in Glasgow showed a man, also wearing a Plasticine Action tee, being spoken to by officers.

The force confirmed that no arrests were made.

Palestine Action was banned after members broke into the RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and sprayed red paint into aircraft engines.

The group, which does not call for violence against people and often targets sites operated by Israeli weapons manufacturers, argued that their actions were a response to the ‘genocide’ happening in Gaza.

Peter Leary, deputy director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, accused the government of ‘wasting public resources’ and ‘silencing’ protesters.

‘The disgraceful proscription of Palestine Action comes alongside the use of draconian police powers to impose unprecedented restrictions on marches in solidarity with the Palestinian people,’ he told Metro.

The Met Police said in a statement to Metro: ‘Shortly after 2pm on Saturday (August 9), officers on duty in Parliament Square arrested a man on suspicion of an offence under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

‘At the time of his arrest, the man was wearing a scarf that partially obscured the slogan on his T-shirt, which officers believed read Palestine Action.

‘He was taken to one of the nearby prisoner processing points where, once officers realised the t-shirt actually read Plasticine Action, he was de-arrested and was free to leave.

‘His arrest is not included in the figure of 532 arrests as part of the policing operation that day.’

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