Why is the U.K. arresting peaceful protesters on terrorism charges?

LONDON — Richard Whitmore-Jones had never protested before reaching his 70s, but British police have arrested him three times this summer for holding a cardboard sign, leaving the retired executive facing three sets of terrorism charges

LONDON — Richard Whitmore-Jones had never protested before reaching his 70s, but British police have arrested him three times this summer for holding a cardboard sign, leaving the retired executive facing three sets of terrorism charges.

Each time, the 74-year-old said he had been sitting silently outside the British Parliament holding a placard that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

“We’re not talking to anybody, we’re not being interviewed, we’re simply sitting there with a sign,” Whitmore-Jones, who faces a court date in October, told NBC News.

Four words written on the sign triggered Whitmore-Jones' arrest: I support Palestine Action.

The British government banned Palestine Action — which describes itself as a direct action movement that uses disruptive methods — as a terrorist organization in July, putting it alongside Al Qaeda and the Islamic State terrorist group, or ISIS. It made membership in or support of the group a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison under British law.