Your report is interesting but not surprising (Half of arrests at Palestine Action ban protest were 60 or over, data shows, 10 August). I felt able to take part in the protest, and get arrested, because I am retired, and so don’t have job prospects which would be put at risk through a criminal record.
The system whereby any criminal conviction, however ethically motivated, puts a person’s entire career at risk holds many people back from taking nonviolent direct action for peace and justice. It’s a major factor in propping up the military-industrial complex that causes so much devastation.
Dr Bob Banks
Grindleford, Derbyshire
