Ken Loach in Edinburgh: Palestine Action ban is 'legal monstrosity'

Mr Loach said the decision to designate the organisation a terrorist group was taken to "intimidate" anyone who opposes what is happening in Gaza and the UK government’s “collusion”.

The 89-year-old posed with protesters following an event at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on Wednesday, where he discussed his career alongside long-term screenwriting partner Paul Laverty and producer Rebecca O’Brien.

The activists he was pictured with were wearing t-shirts bearing a slogan which has led to arrests. Mr Laverty also wore the t-shirt, from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, on stage.

The garment reads "genocide in Palestine, time to take action", with the words "Palestine" and "action" highlighted. Last month, an activist in Glasgow was reportedly charged under the Terrorism Act for wearing it.

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Speaking during the festival event, Mr Loach, who is widely considered one of Britain’s greatest filmmakers, said arresting octogenarians for wearing a t-shirt was "ridiculous".

He said: “[Prime Minister Sir Keir] Starmer has built his reputation on human rights. He knows the bizarre stupidity of it. But he's a Zionist and that means he will defend Israel to the end."

Mr Loach spoke out against “the sheer horror of what we are witnessing” in Palestine, as well as “the tolerance of it”.

He said: “I remember as a nine-year-old seeing the pictures from when Belsen concentration camp was revealed, it was relieved by the allied troops, and you saw these figures kind of next to death against the concentration camp wires, and those images stayed with me all my life. To see that repeated is just unbelievable.”

Mr Laverty said one of his friends had been arrested for wearing the same t-shirt he had on.

Speaking to journalists after posing with activists following the event, Mr Loach, who is well-known for his socialist views, said: "We know the genocide that is happening against the Palestinians in Gaza, and now it seems in the West Bank, perpetrated by Israel and colluded in by our government, in that they won't take the action they should.

"There's a legal responsibility on them under the genocide convention to prevent genocide - they are not doing that. They're in breach of international law.

"And the ban against Palestine Action is to intimidate anyone who opposes them, and the suppression of Palestine Action is a legal monstrosity, and we have to oppose that ban.

"I support everything that's in the t-shirts here, and I'm proud to stand with them. I think they're very brave."

Asked what he thought about the fact people had been arrested for wearing the t-shirt, Mr Loach said: "The arrest has no legality as far as I can see. I'm not a lawyer. To prevent weapons of war being made or being used is hardly terrorist. It's anti-terrorist. It's anti state terrorist.”

He added: "We are being governed by politicians who seem to have no respect for international law, no moral compass, and the people have to rise against them. It is intolerable."

Mr Loach said he was not concerned about risking a terrorism charge by showing support for Palestine Action.