Protester arrested over ‘Plasticine Action’ T-shirt: ‘How ridiculous is this?’

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/18/protester-arrested-wearing-plasticine-action-t-shirt-palestine-gaza-protest

Posted by corbynista2029

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28 Comments

  1. John_Williams_1977 on

    ‘I provoked a situation and what I expected happened – now I profit!’

    says most transparent person since Casper the Ghost.

  2. Dramatic_Strategy_95 on

    It’s no more ridiculous than loyalists putting ‘Keep Antrim Tidy’ banners on their bonfires in Northern Ireland. Everyone knows what they really mean, same here.

  3. Glittering_Copy8907 on

    > Pickering admitted it was designed to be an easy mistake

    > The arrest happened at a protest in Parliament Square

    So, he got the exact reaction he was after.

    > About five minutes later, the arresting officer approached him again. “He said: ‘I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.’ I said: ‘What’s the good news?’ He said: ‘I’m de-arresting you.’

    > “And I said: ‘What’s the bad news?’ He said: ‘It’s going to be really embarrassing for me.’ And then I walked free, while all the real heroes are the people that are actually getting arrested.”

    And, I mean, come on. Realised their mistake (See note) and dealt with it in good humour.

    But, also, if they think they can simply muddle the water then they’re mistaken. If people start wearing these, then it becomes a de facto Palestine Action T-Shirt anyway

    Note: It wasn’t really a mistake, but they clearly decided it wasn’t a fight worth fighting at that moment. But the shirt could easily fall foul of the same law – it’s pretty obvious what he was going for

  4. This is the tee shirt equivalent of voicing Gerry Adams on the TV news during the Troubles!

    I’m ouTRageD etc.

  5. BigBeanMarketing on

    Seen/heard quite a few stag dos being barred entry to flights for jokingly wearing “Just Stop Oil” t-shirts. Similar sort of thing here, funny but it is asking for trouble.

  6. FrogOwlSeagull on

    A moment for the poor bugger who will now be known to their colleagues as the muppet who just birthed a thousand don’t have to be literate to join the Met jokes.

  7. >inside the letter “o” was an image of the stop-motion character Morph giving two thumbs up.

    This was worth the read just to remember Morph. Theres a compliation on YT as well

  8. In this thread: r/unitedkingdom users can’t read a headline, discover they’re perfect candidates for the Met.

  9. ProtonHyrax99 on

    Russia arrested protestors for holding signs saying “two words” (veiled reference to “Нет Война / No war”, one of the main anti-war chants early in the Ukrainian invasion). They arrested others for holding blank signs after that.

    Worrying to see we’re moving in the same direction. Where you can’t even vaguely reference things the government doesn’t want you to, without risking arrest.

  10. Temporary_Eye_5759 on

    I know people in here are salty the guy is making a quick few quid out of this, but personally I think this is hilarious.

  11. MrMonkeyman79 on

    Man goes to protest wearing clothing designed to be confused with Palestine action with specific intention of provoking police response.

    Man gets arrested.

    Man promptly gets dearrestes and policeman makes good humoured joke.

    Man goes to press, having achieved exactly what he wanted.

    People get irrationally angry and act like he got a life sentence.

  12. RgrTehCabinBoy on

    Yeah it’s pretty funny but I doubt some of you would feel the same if I went around putting up “Notional Action” stickers and got nicked for it 

  13. The sheer number of people on this post who can’t be bothered to read the article or the t-shirt is staggering.

    They could be perfect candidates for the Met.

  14. Yeah but come on, you all know what that means. If you walked around with a t-shirt that said *God Hates Bundles of Sticks* or *i hate Ninjas* everyone would know what that person is trying to say.

    If the rule is, you cannot have the words Palestine Action on a t-shirt then you can’t just modify the slogan to get around it.

  15. So in the UK, you can incite killing by slitting peoples throats but the word “plastecine” is offensive?

    The UK is seriously fucked

  16. ‘How ridiculous is this?’. It’s more ridiculous that Palestine action has been labelled terrorism.

  17. cosmic_monsters_inc on

    That’s pretty funny. The shirt that is, not the dystopian nightmare we find ourselves in.

  18. Loud-Hovercraft-1285 on

    I’m dyslexic and I had to read it three times to see what was wrong with it.

  19. I said this whole thing would turn the proscribed list into a joke, and I was right.

    This entire affair has been such a ridiculous own-goal on the part of Labour.

  20. Obladi_obladoc on

    I feel so much safer now! Thank you UK government for using my tax money to arrest such a vicious and dangerous criminal!

  21. It’s clearly intended to be taken as a show of support for a proscribed terror organisation. Full force of law.