Over 450 people were arrested at a rally against the proscription of Palestine Action – the “largest ever mass arrest” by the Metropolitan Police at one protest, according to campaigners.
Protesters rallied in support of the direct action group, which was designated as a terrorist organisation last month.
The mass arrests in Parliament Square exceeded even those during the 1990 poll tax riots, which campaigners described as an unprecedented assault on freedom of expression and the right to peaceful protest.
Many of the protestors held up placards reading “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action” in Parliament Square.
Social media detailed how pensioners, military vets, and professionals from various backgrounds were among those arrested, highlighting the broad demographic willing to face imprisonment over the issue.
Among those detained was Moazzam Begg, the prominent activist and former Guantanamo Bay detainee who spent three years in US custody without charge between 2002 and 2005.
Police confirmed a total of 474 arrests, which surpassed the record set during the 1990 poll tax riots, when 339 people were taken into custody.
Despite Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley’s pledge earlier this week to arrest all participants in the planned protest, the scale of civil disobedience meant that many holding placards were not arrested.
‘Collective act of resistance’
Defend Our Juries, which organised the demonstration, said in a post on X: “Approximately a thousand protestors sat in Parliament Square with signs which read ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action’ In a collective act of resistance, people are risking their liberty for our civil liberties and for the Palestinian people.”
The government proscribed the group in July following an incident in which members broke into the Royal Air Force Brize Norton base and spray-painted two planes they said were “used for military operations in Gaza and across the Middle East.”
Since then, many individuals have been arrested during weekly protests organised by Defend Our Juries.
The terrorism designation has drawn fierce criticism from civil liberty advocates who warn it sets a dangerous precedent for criminalising legitimate political protest.
Founded in July 2020, Palestine Action describes its use of “disruptive tactics” to target “corporate enablers” and companies involved in supplying weapons to Israel, including Israel-based Elbit Systems and the French multinational Thales.
The group’s actions have included occupying factory rooftops, blocking weapons shipments, and defacing military equipment — tactics historically used by various protest movements but now reclassified under terrorism legislation.Police arrest over 450 people at protest over Palestine Action ban.
