Police charge man over alleged support for Palestine Action

Officers executed a warrant in Oban on Tuesday

A 59-year-old man has been arrested and charged as part of an ongoing investigation into those involved with support for Palestine Action.

Police Scotland said officers executed a warrant in the Oban area on Tuesday.

The man will appear at Oban Sheriff Court on Wednesday and a report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.

Palestine Action was proscribed as a terror group by the UK government in July after police said members broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and caused an estimated £7m of damage to planes.

Membership or support for Palestine Action is now a crime that can lead to up to 14 years in jail.

More than 700 people have been arrested and 114 charged over alleged support for the group since the ban was introduced.

In July, a man was arrested outside the TRNSMT music festival in Glasgow for allegedly wearing a T-shirt bearing the message "Genocide in Palestine Time to Take Action."

That same month a man was arrested for allegedly displaying a poster supporting the organisation at a flat in the Shawlands area of the city.

On Monday, former First Minister Humza Yousaf called for Scotland's top law officer to exempt peaceful protesters who back the banned group from prosecution.

However the Solicitor General for Scotland Ruth Charteris rejected Yousaf's request on behalf of Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain.

UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said some supporters of Palestine Action "don't know the full nature" of the group. She added it was "not a non-violent organisation".

Last month, Palestine Action won permission to challenge the ban, with the case to be heard at the High Court in November.