At least 365 arrests at Palestine Action ban protest
“Censorship is the shadow of power. And in Britain today, that shadow is growing darker by the day. ” This weekend, London’s streets will become the arena where that shadow meets resistance…
Westminster was turned into the stage for a mass act of civil disobedience today as hundreds openly defied the government’s ban on Palestine Action, a group now proscribed as a “terrorist organisation” under the Terrorism Act 2000.
At least 365 people were arrested after they unveiled placards reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action” in Parliament Square. The action was organised by Defend Our Juries, which had vowed the demonstration would go ahead despite the ban.
The proscription, pushed through by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in July, makes membership or public support for Palestine Action a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The Metropolitan Police, bolstered by officers from outside London, moved swiftly. Protesters who displayed placards were either arrested on the spot or in the process of being detained. Those who gave their details were bailed under conditions banning them from any further Palestine Action protests. Those who refused were taken into custody.
Footage shows officers moving systematically through the seated crowds. Some demonstrators left quietly; others lay on the ground and were carried away to chants of “Shame on you”.
Police say around 500–600 people were in Parliament Square when the protest began, although they insist not all were supporters. Organisers claim there were over 1,000 sign-holders, a figure the Met has flatly denied.
Defend Our Juries said the turnout showed “how repulsed and ashamed people are about our government’s ongoing complicity in a livestreamed genocide.” They added: “Palestine Action and people holding cardboard signs present no danger to the public at large.”
One protester told the BBC:
“If they ban Palestine Action, what other group is next? Until we’re no longer allowed to protest anything. That’s the opposite of democracy.”
Another, Claudia Penna-Rojas, 27, said:
“I don’t think anyone wants to get arrested, but I’m more concerned with what is happening to people in Palestine right now, and I refuse to be a bystander.”
At 86, Jacob Ecclestone said:
“I believe in freedom of speech. What this government is trying to do is deeply authoritarian. And it’s extremely dangerous.”
Criminalising Protest
This mass arrest comes just days after the first three people charged under the ban were named. All are accused of displaying signs “arousing reasonable suspicion” of supporting a proscribed organisation at a previous protest.
Since the ban came into effect, over 200 people across the country have been arrested for similar offences.
The government claims the proscription is based on “strong security advice” and cites incidents such as Palestine Action’s break-in at RAF Brize Norton, where activists caused £7m worth of damage to military aircraft used in Israel arms sales.
But Palestine Action and its supporters argue the ban is nothing more than a gag order, designed to shut down one of the few direct-action groups targeting the arms trade that supplies weapons to Israel.
Challenging the Ban
At the end of July, the High Court ruled that Palestine Action can challenge its proscription. Lawyers for co-founder Huda Ammori say the ban breaches the right to free speech and peaceful protest.
MPs voted overwhelmingly to proscribe the group after a lobbying push portraying it as a threat to “public safety.” Yet, for critics, today’s scenes in Parliament Square look less like the policing of terrorism and more like the criminalisation of dissent.
A Wider Crackdown
Today’s protest was only one flashpoint in a weekend of competing demonstrations, with the Palestine Coalition and the pro-Israel group Stop the Hate both set to march in central London on consecutive days under tight police restrictions.
The state message is clear: show public support for Palestine Action, and you risk prison.
As the arrests mount, so does the question: when does the fight against “terrorism” become the suppression of political opposition?
Or as one protester in the square put it:
“They call it law and order. But it’s really about control, about who we are allowed to stand with, and who we’re not.”
Power isn’t measured by wealth or titles; it’s measured by who can silence you. And they’re doing it right now.
This is Starmer’s Britain…
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