Aberystwyth is one of 10 locations across the UK to host a protest in support of Palestine Action, and it will take place today.

Tuesday, 18 November will see 10 towns and cities across the UK will hold simultaneous demonstrations in support of the proscribed terrorist organisation.

Residents of the Cardigan Bay town will join others across Cardiff, Edinburgh, Oxford, Leeds, Nottingham, Northampton, Gloucester and Truro risking arrest by showing public support for an organised dubbed ‘terrorist’ by the government, by holding placards stating ‘I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action’.

The demonstrations come ahead of a High Court judicial review against the banning of the direct action group.

So far, more than 2,100 people have been arrested at similar demonstrations for showing public support for the organisation, with 170 of them charged with allegedly showing support for the group, with potential consequences of up to six months in jail.

Campaign group Defend Our Juries has organised actions in the two weeks leading up to the judicial review across Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales, spanning 18 towns and cities, describing it as the “most widespread mass civil disobedience in modern UK history”.

They are calling for the government to lift the ban on Palestine Action and “end UK complicity in Israel’s genocide” after the UK was named in a recent UN draft report for its continued arms sales to Israel.

Leigh Evans, retired Emergency Nurse with extensive experience of working in the West Bank and Gaza, who took part in the Global Flotilla, and who will be taking action in Cardiff tomorrow said: “Protest and direct action are prerequisites for democracy in the face of fascism.

“Direct action is the only thing that has ever been proved to work against oppression and apartheid.

“Every right we have has been won for us through protest and direct action from the Levellers in the 17th century to the suffragettes in the early 1900s. Direct action and protests give us our human rights.”

A spokesperson for the Aberystwyth protest said the action was particularly pertinent in west Wales, which is home to the Ministry of Defence’s base in Aberporth and Aberystwyth University’s partnership with QinetiQ, a named partner in developing the Watchkeeper Drone in collaboration with Israeli Elbit Systems.

According to Campaign Against the Arms Trade research, QinetiQ also holds licences to export military goods to Israel.

A QinetiQ spokesperson has previously said to the Cambrian News: “We provide no weapons to Israel.”