More than 425 people were arrested in Westminster on Saturday during a large demonstration against the government’s ban on the campaign group Palestine Action.
Hundreds gathered in Parliament Square holding placards that read “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action,” despite warnings from the Metropolitan Police that showing support for the group constituted a criminal offence under the Terrorism Act.
The Met confirmed the majority of arrests were for supporting a proscribed organisation. More than 25 people were detained for assaulting officers and other public order offences. The force said officers faced “an exceptional level of abuse,” including “punches, kicks, spitting and objects being thrown.”
Defend Our Juries, which organised the rally, accused police of “violently assaulting peaceful protesters including the elderly,” and posted video showing an officer shoving an older demonstrator to the ground. The group said the protest showed that the ban on Palestine Action was “impossible to enforce and a preposterous waste of resources.”
The rally began as Big Ben struck 13:00. Protesters, many of them pensioners, wrote messages on paper or placards supporting Palestine Action and sat in defiance. Police began making arrests within 15 minutes, targeting individuals holding signs. Demonstrators followed organisers’ instructions to go “floppy,” forcing officers to carry them away one by one. Each arrest was met with chants of “shame on you.”
Arrests were concentrated in the area between the statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Millicent Fawcett, before detainees were escorted to vans and taken to Millbank. Organisers estimated that around 1,500 people were “defying the ban” by the afternoon.
Among those present was veteran environmental campaigner Sir Jonathon Porritt, who said: “I’m here because I am sick to the heart with what is going on in Gaza and the genocide. I’m outraged with the government’s direct complicity and I want to see our government held to account.”
Amnesty International’s director of campaigns, Kerry Moscogiuri, criticised the arrests, calling it “genuinely shocking to see people being hauled from the streets of London by the police for peacefully holding up signs.”
Police Scotland confirmed two arrests at a separate demonstration in Edinburgh. Smaller protests also took place in Belfast.
The Home Office proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation in July, making membership or public support punishable by up to 14 years in prison. A similar protest in August saw more than 530 people arrested in London.