MPs have voted to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group, with 385 MPs approving the order and only 26 opposing. The order also included two neo-Nazi groups, which critics have argued was a cynical attempt to ensure that it passed (voting not to ban “the Maniacs Murder Cult”, which is one of the other groups, is a tougher sell).

Labour’s decision to ban Palestine Action came after an incident last month, where two of its members broke into an RAF base and sprayed red paint on two planes – the group later explained they targeted this site due to its direct involvement with Israel’s genocide.

According to Labour, tactics like this make Palestine Action an illegitimate protest group. “People engaged in lawful protests don’t need weapons. People engaged in lawful protests do not throw smoke bombs and fire pyrotechnics around innocent members of the public. And people engaged in lawful protests do not cause millions of pounds of damage to national security infrastructure,” said Home Office minister Dan Jarvis. 

But this argument has been disputed by several UN experts, who have urged Labour not to misuse terrorism laws. “According to international standards, acts of protest that damage property, but are not intended to kill or injure people, should not be treated as terrorism,” they said.

There is a long history of protest groups, many of whom are lauded as heroes today, using civil disobedience as a tactic. The same day of the vote, hundreds of women MPs gathered to celebrate the Suffragettes, the women’s right movement which smashed windows, set buildings and mailboxes on fire, tried to push a magistrate off a cliff, and detonated a bomb which destroyed the summer home of chancellor of the exchequer David Lloyd George – objectively far more extreme than anything Palestine Action have done.

Here’s everything you need to know about yesterday’s vote and what happens next.

WHO OPPOSED THE BAN? 

While they were vastly outnumbered, several Labour MPs, including Clive Lewis, Diane Abbott and Richard Burgon, have spoken out against the order. Speaking in parliament, independent MP Zarah Sultana said it “lumps a non-violent network of students, nurses, teachers, firefighters and peace campaigners – ordinary people, my constituents and yours – with neo-Nazi militias and mass-casualty cults”. 

“Instead of prosecuting [Palestine Action] for criminal damage, which is what normally is done, the home secretary is using the Terrorism Act to proscribe them as a terrorist group. This is an unprecedented and dangerous overreach of the state,” she continued.

Together with the Independent Alliance, a grouping of independent MPs, Jeremy Corbyn released a statement condemning the proscription. “The real crime is the government's complicity in genocide - and the proscription of Palestine Action is a shameful attempt to silence dissent,” it read.

The order has also been opposed by a large number of civil society organisations, including Amnesty International and Liberty, and mainstream liberal commentators like George Monbiot – The Guardian, hardly a hotbed of extremism, published an editorial accusing Labour of “policing dissent” and endangering civil liberties. An open letter opposing the decision was signed by Tilda Swinton, Steve Coogan, Paul Weller, Brian Eno, Frankie Boyle, Jeremy Deller, and hundreds of other leading creative figures.

There has been a robust response in the streets. Following on from last week’s demonstration in Trafalgar Square, and all over Britain, people gathered outside Westminster yesterday to protest the decision, which led to four people being arrested – one of them was a disabled man accused by the police of “blocking the gates of Downing Street with his mobility scooter.”

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

In a statement, Palestine Action have expressed confidence that the order will be overturned. “As United Nations experts have made clear, spraying red paint and disrupting the British-based operations of Israel’s largest weapons firm, Elbit Systems, is not terrorism,” it read. 

After passing in the House of Commons, the order still needs to go to the House of Lords for final approval, which is expected to take place today (July 3). If this happens, the order will come into force on Saturday July 5. But Palestine Action has been granted an urgent high court hearing in London on Friday,  which could block the order. There is a protest organised outside the Royal Court of Justice on Friday, from 10.30am.

WHAT WILL IT MEAN IF PALESTINE ACTION BECOMES PROSCRIBED?

If the high court doesn’t decide in its favour, the group will be proscribed from Saturday onwards (although it will still have the opportunity to challenge the order in court and potentially reverse it). This means that it will become a criminal offence – punishable by up to 14 years in prison – to be a member, to donate money or invite support for Palestine Action. In theory, people could face terrorism charges for any and all expressions of perceived support, from wearing pins, badges and t-shirts to praising the group on social media or amplifying its communications. For a taste of how it may be policed, look at the legal troubles faced by Kneecap's Mo Chara after he allegedly waved a Hezbollah flag (a proscribed group) during a gig.

But a lot of people, including mainstream figures like Sally Rooney and George Monbiot, have vowed to continue supporting Palestine Action regardless of what happens. Faced with an “I am Spartacus” moment, it remains to be seen whether the government has the stomach or the capacity to prosecute them all. Because it's such an unprecendented move - a non-violent protest group has never been proscribed before, never mind one with such mass support - it's difficult to predict how strictly the order will be enforced. 

"Not only is this proscription order draconian, not only is it hypocritical from a government complicit in war crimes, but it is also utterly unworkable," a spokesperson from International Centre of Justice for Palestinians tells Dazed. "The government is clearly too out of touch with its own public to realise this, but if they arrest everyone wearing a Palestine Action shirt at a march, everyone saying 'We are all Palestine Action' on social media or in the streets, then they'll essentially be criminalising an entire movement, not just a few individuals."

They continue, "The government ought to look inwards, listen to its own people and uphold its legal and moral obligations, rather than criminalising pro-Palestine movements. Drastic measures need to be adopted to bring to an end Israel's genocide against Palestinians. This should be reflected in the government's continued F-35 arms export licenses, their use of RAF Akrotiri, and other ways in which they are complicit in the genocide."