On 17 February 2026 FRFI supporter Louis was detained by ‘anti-terror’ police at Manchester airport. Outrageously, this was the third time that comrade Louis had been arrested by special branch under Terrorism Act powers since 2024. Despite successful outcomes in the courts for Palestine Action and others, the Labour government continues to blacklist those expressing anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist politics.
Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 allows nameless officers to ‘detain’ individuals (insisting that this does not constitute arrest) at Britain’s borders for up to six hours, not requiring any ‘prior authority or any suspicion’. This is justified in handy public information leaflets handed to those ‘examined’ under Schedule 7, asserting that ‘Terrorists need to travel in order to plan, prepare and commit their crimes’. Detainees routinely have their luggage minutely searched and queried, have no right to silence or ‘no comment’ during questioning, and have devices confiscated for an extendable seven days for further investigation.
After being reported to the police by Zionist racists for pro-resistance speech on an FRFI contingent at a pro-Palestine demonstration in Manchester in 2024, comrade Louis was first detained under Schedule 7 in July that year. Following a trip to Ireland, a heavy gang of special branch officers met him on the tarmac, pushing him into a blacked-out car and driving him into a secret interrogation room, which we now know to be in Terminal 2 of Manchester airport. Predictably, questions surrounded ‘support for Hamas’, opposition to the British government’s position and general politics. The officers also wanted to know about Louis’ movements in Ireland. Knowing that he had an upcoming trip to the Arab world, they asked about Islam, clearly showing that these ‘anti-terror’ laws are largely aimed at criminalising the Muslim community.
The same treatment awaited Louis’ return to Manchester on returning from Egypt and Lebanon in July 2025. This time, the array of questions was more openly racist and centred around his wife’s family in Gaza, political meetings during his trip, contacts with Palestinian organisations etc. Though solicitors confirm that, under Schedule 7, ‘no comment’ can be manipulated to claim withholding of information, the experience of FRFI supporters suggests that short, undetailed answers will suffice.
Comrade Louis’ February 2026 detention was his third in short succession by British ‘counter-terrorism’ police, this time as he returned from a short trip to Istanbul. Officers knew of his movements and, not knowing that Louis’ partner was also travelling, were fully prepared to take their six-year-old son into custody. Coming across all reasonable, they claimed that they didn’t want to be doing this, and that it was in their interests to finish things as quickly as possible. They had questions about family members and friends in Istanbul, again showing clear racial profiling.
As on previous occasions FRFI supporters organised a phone tree to demand our comrade’s release. Our legal contacts in Manchester are now assessing a response to this clear example of political blacklisting. This attack comes in the context of the British Labour government’s continuing campaign of repression against pro-Palestine activists, from the SOAS 2 to the Filton 24. It is imperative that we build the counter-attack and smash political policing.
No to blacklisting – Scrap the Terrorism Act!
