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A large demonstration against the ban on the group Palestine Action in London resulted in the arrests of 890 individuals, according to the police. The majority of the arrests were related to supporting a proscribed group under the Terrorism Act, with a significant number of arrests made after the protest escalated into violence. This marked an increase from the initially reported 425 arrests made on Saturday.
The government had proscribed Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation in July, following an incident where activists broke into an RAF base and damaged two military aircraft. Of the 857 arrests made for showing support for Palestine Action, 33 were for other offenses, including 17 for assaults on police officers. The protest began with hundreds of people gathering in central London and writing messages in support of the proscribed group on placards before arrests started.
Deputy assistant commissioner Claire Smart described the violence encountered during the operation as coordinated and carried out by individuals wearing masks to conceal their identity, aiming to create disorder. Defend Our Juries, the organization that organized the rally, criticized the police for violently assaulting peaceful protesters, including the elderly, and deemed the attempt to arrest over a thousand individuals for holding cardboard signs as excessive. They argued that the ban on Palestine Action was impossible to enforce and a wasteful expenditure of resources.
Earlier in the week, the Home Office was granted permission to challenge a ruling that allowed Palestine Action to appeal against its ban under terrorism legislation. Despite concerns raised by former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper about the group, Defence Secretary John Healey expressed expectations for his successor to maintain strict measures against Palestine Action supporters
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