Overview

• In an Irish Times piece, the novelist said she will use book income and BBC residuals to support Palestine Action and “direct action against genocide”, adding that publishing the same statement in a UK paper would be illegal.
• The group was proscribed on 5 July following security advice after an RAF Brize Norton break-in that caused about £7m in damage to two aircraft, and the ban is being contested in UK courts.
• Downing Street said no one should back the group and stressed that police will enforce Terrorism Act offences; the organisation is not banned in Ireland, where Rooney lives.
• The Metropolitan Police say more than 700 people have been arrested since the ban, including over 500 at an August 9 Parliament Square protest, with at least 60 further prosecutions announced.
• Legal experts say Rooney could be arrested under section 15 if she transfers money intending to support the group, while the BBC noted she has never been its staff and said matters concerning proscribed organisations are for the authorities.