Three people were arrested after protesters attempted to break into a prison where banned terror organisation Palestine Action is holding a hunger strike, as lawyers representing the strikers claim they are on the verge of death.
Lawyers representing the Palestine Action hunger strikers have warned the group of five people on a rolling hunger strike over a series of demands including that they be released from prison said they are “reaching a critical stage and nearing the point of no return”. As of Friday two of the group are on day 48 without food and a third is on day 47, with two others having given up their protests earlier in the week.
None of the hunger striking inmates have yet been convicted of a crime, but are accused of involvement in a series of sabotage actions. Although these direct action attacks were under the banner of the now-banned terror group Palestine Action, their arrests predate the organisation being proscribed by the government.
One of the complaints by the strikers and their lawyers is that they have been held in pre-trial detention for an unusually long time, over the regular six months, and some will wait over 20 months for their court cases to begin.
Hunger strikes have become an ingrained element of the British prison system and the government has said it deals with 200 of them a year. Nevertheless, the coordinated action by the Palestine Action inmates, which is a proscribed terror organisation in the United Kingdom, has gained particular attention and comparisons with the 1980s IRA strikes, which led to ten deaths, including one at 46 days.
Supporters of the strikers have been attempting to increase publicity for their cause and hosted a protest outside His Majesty’s Women’s Prison Bronzefield on Wednesday. Three arrests were made at the scene after protesters attempted to storm the prison and succeeded in getting into a secured area. One prison officer and one police officer were assaulted and a police vehicle was damaged.
Up to 50 protesters blocked the roads in and out of the prison, preventing the movement of prisoner transport vehicles and other emergency services vehicles, and clashed with police. In a statement, local police said medical aid for their officer injured by a protester was prevented from reaching the scene by the activists.
Hard-left Member of Parliament Zarah Sultana had joined the protests earlier in the week and said 20-year-old Qesser Zuhrah was hunger striking at Bronzefield. She said of Zuhrah: “She is critically ill and at immediate risk of dying”. Zuhrah was subsequently taken from the prison to hospital.
As previously reported of the two Palestine Action attacks that saw the hunger strikers, and others, jailed:
The strikers have been arrested over alleged involvement in the August 6th 2024 raid on Elbit Systems in Patchway, Bristol, and the June 20th 2025 raid on RAF Brize Norton. At Elbit systems, a prison truck was used as a battering ram to smash into the defence factory, where teams of activists are said to have either attempted to keep the authorities at bay, or destroy the equipment inside.
As earlier reported, a court heard how a female police officer allegedly had her back broken by being struck twice by a sledgehammer, once while she was already on the ground. The man accused of that act is not one of the hunger strikers, and the case is ongoing and guilt has not been determined for any charges by a court of law…. At RAF Brize Norton, a team is said to have entered the major military base undetected to use fire extinguishers filled with paint to spray into the engines of Royal Air Force logistics jets. The three Brize Norton suspects are charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place and conspiracy to commit criminal damage.
The hunger strikers have something of a laundry list of demands, from immediate personal issues to wider political wants. Among those demands reported in the left-wing press over the past month are for immediate bail for themselves, that their mail and visits in prison not be restricted, that the government’s designation of the Palestine Action group as a proscribed terrorist organisation be lifted, and that Elbit systems be shut down in the United Kingdom.
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