Top UK screenwriter Laverty arrested at pro-Palestine protest / Photo: Julie SEBADELHA - AFP
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Top UK screenwriter Laverty arrested at pro-Palestine protest
Screenwriter Paul Laverty, best known for his collaborations with director Ken Loach including on the award-winning "I, Daniel Blake," was arrested Monday at a pro-Palestine protest for supporting a banned organisation, Scottish police said.
"Following a protest outside St Leonards Police Station (Edinburgh) on Monday, 25 August 2025, a 68-year-old man has been arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 for showing support for a proscribed organisation," said Police Scotland. It later specifyied that the man was Laverty.
According to Scottish newspaper The National, Laverty was wearing a T-shirt with the slogan: "Genocide in Palestine, time to take action."
Laverty is being accused of supporting Palestine Action, which UK authorities proscribed as a terror group in July following acts of vandalism at a Royal Air Force base.
More than 700 people have been arrested, mostly at demonstrations, for supporting the group since it was outlawed under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Laverty is best known for his work with Loach, notably writing the screenplays for "I, Daniel Blake" (2016) and "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" (2006), which both won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Y.Iglesias--GBA
