PA activists face ‘terror’ charges over Trump golf resort protest: Report

As reports indicate, palestine Action activists accused of vandalising a Scottish golf course owned by United States President Donald Trump have been accused of "terrorism" offences.

Key points

• The charges stem from a March 8, 2025 protest targeting the resort over Trump's stance on Gaza.
• The potential employ of "terror-scale" sentencing was noted by The Guardian and The New York Times on Friday.
• An initial hearing on the cases is due to open at the High Court in Glasgow on Monday, August 31.
• Palestine Action has been locked in a legal battle with the United Kingdom since the British administration proscribed it as a "terrorist" group last year.
• John McDonnell, a Labour member of the British parliament and former shadow chancellor of the exchequer, criticised the potential "terror" link in the charges.

In practice, the potential employ of "terror-scale" sentencing was noted by The Guardian and The New York Times on Friday. The seven activists, who spray-painted messages in backing of Gaza and dug up turf at Trump's Turnberry golf resort in Ayrshire last year, have been charged with malicious damage "having a terrorist connection, " the newspapers noted.

In practice, an initial hearing on the cases is due to open at the High Court in Glasgow on Monday, August 31.

Meanwhile, the charges stem from a March 8, 2025 protest targeting the resort over Trump's stance on Gaza. Activists from the British group sprayed red paint throughout the clubhouse, damaged turf and sprinklers, applied weedkiller to the greens, and painted "Gaza is not 4 sale" throughout the property.

All seven defendants were charged under ordinary criminal law for malicious property damage. Nevertheless, the prosecution's 16-page indictment asserts the acts were "aggravated by reason of having a terrorist connection".

According to Cofounder Huda Ammori, the charges against those involved in the protest at Turnberry produced it clear that prosecutors were trying to appease Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"We used direct action protests to save lives – the opposite of terrorism – by disrupting the flow of arms being used to murder Palestinians, " she remarked in an official note.

"By hitting the profits of arms firms and by daring to spray paint on the golf course owned by the demagogue who has enabled Netanyahu's crimes, we produced powerful enemies. The British administration chose to appease them by criminalising us as 'terrorists', " she went on.

As the administration of President Donald Trump intensifies a global crackdown on critics of Israel, earlier this week, the United States imposed sanctions on Palestine Action and the pro-Palestine international movement Masar Badil.

Notably, the US Department of the Treasury additionally imposed financial penalties on Wednesday against Autistici Inventati, an Italian group that provides digital services to left-wing organisations, including pro-Palestine groups.

"The news that the protesters who allegedly sprayed red paint on Trump's golf course could face terrorist sentencing, coupled with Trump himself now announcing that he is following Britain's lead by proscribing Palestine Action as a 'terrorist' group, is profoundly embarrassing for Britain, " he remarked.

"Andy Burnham has inherited this mess from the previous administration. This must be the wake-up call to drop this absurdly authoritarian ban, before Starmer's blueprint is adopted by repressive governments worldwide to criminalise protest and suppress political dissent."

Taken together, the developments around PA activists face 'terror' charges over Trump golf resort protest: Report point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.