A man who shared posts on his Facebook page backing Palestine Action has told how he was hauled from his bed by police and arrested on suspicion of breaking terror laws in a terrifying dawn raid.
Mat Cobb, 52, a part-time cleaner, is now facing potentially life-changing criminal charges after becoming the latest member of the public to fall foul of the controversial decision to ban the direct-action group.
He told The Independent the arrest at his home in Hinckley, Leicestershire, had “totally blown my mind” after he was handcuffed and taken to a police station on Wednesday morning.
Mr Cobb, who has 2,200 followers on his Facebook page, said he had never attended a demonstration or been a member of Palestine Action – now a proscribed terrorist organisation.
His arrest comes after more than 500 peaceful protesters were arrested at a demonstration in Parliament Square earlier this month for holding placards supporting the group.
Shami Chakrabarti, a former shadow attorney general and civil liberties campaigner, said Mr Cobb’s arrest jeopardised public trust in policing and demonstrated the danger of the ongoing ban, which means showing support for the group is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Palestine Action has won permission to challenge the law in the High Court.
The Labour peer added: “Dawn bedroom raids [like this] highlight the dangers of the ongoing proscription of Palestinian Action. Public trust and policing by consent are in jeopardy while we wait for higher courts to rule on the legality of the ban. Whatever advice informed the original proscription, the Home Secretary would be wise urgently to review it in the light of subsequent events.”
She previously warned that the ban risked becoming a “mistake of poll tax proportions” – a reference to Margaret Thatcher’s unpopular policy that triggered civil disobedience and riots.
Mr Cobb said two police officers had attended his address a week earlier, but he was away on holiday. They told his housemate there was nothing to worry about. He was still in bed when they returned at 7am on Wednesday. When his housemate answered the door, he said, they barged inside and burst into his bedroom, where he was arrested and handcuffed. Officers also seized his mobile phone.
“I heard my housemate answer the door, then some shouting, then running up the stairs and my housemate shouting ‘I’m sorry, Mat’, then they came in my room and told me I was under arrest and to put my hands where they can see them. Then they put me in handcuffs.”
He was taken to a police station in Leicester where he was put in a holding cell before he was searched, photographed, swabbed for DNA and had his fingerprints taken.
In a police interview, officers, who showed Mr Cobb a series of Facebook posts, said he was under investigation for supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation. He was released under investigation at around 1pm, after almost six hours in custody.
Mr Cobb described the decision to ban the group as a “terrifying development”, which he hopes will be overturned when Palestine Action founder Huda Ammori brings a judicial review this autumn.
“This is a matter of human rights – not just the right to free speech but the rights of Palestinians as they are being murdered,” he said. “For the government to respond to this protest by banning the group that’s protesting is a terrifying development.”
He told The Independent: “If they are going to proscribe non-violent people for protesting against mass murder, they are tyrants.”
The Home Secretary has continued to defend proscribing the direct-action group, repeating claims that an assessment found evidence of “ideas for further attacks” which cannot be reported due to ongoing legal proceedings.
“Many people may not yet know the reality of this organisation, but the assessments are very clear – this is not a non-violent organisation,” said Yvette Cooper. “UK national security and public safety must always be our top priority.”
A Leicestershire Police spokesperson said: “On Wednesday 20 August, police in Leicestershire made a pre-planned arrest in Hinckley as part of an ongoing investigation. A man has been arrested on suspicion of support for a proscribed organisation, under section 12 (1A) of the Terrorism Act 2000. He has been released under investigation while police continue to carry out enquiries.”
