The arrest yesterday in the UK of dozens of peaceful protestors, including the world renowned poet Alice Oswald, seems excessive and heavy-handed. While noting that Palestine Action is currently a proscribed organisation in the UK – although that proscription is itself the subject of a forthcoming legal challenge – it is clear from the signs carried by the protestors that their primary objective was to state their opposition to the genocide of Palestinians which is currently taking place in Gaza, and any reference to Palestine Action must surely be seen only in that context. To arrest and charge with terrorist offences those expressing their opposition to genocide seems like an unnecessary and unwelcome form of censorship.