More than 400 people were arrested in central London on Saturday, for openly supporting the proscribed activist group Palestine Action.
Up to 600 people attended the demonstration, the vast majority remaining silent, with many holding placards reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza”.
The Metropolitan Police said it would arrest anyone expressing support for Palestine Action. There were a further four arrests for assaults on officers.
In an update posted on X on Saturday evening, Scotland Yard said 466 people had been arrested for supporting the group as of 9pm.
The protest was an escalation of the Lift The Ban campaign designed to end the terror ban on Palestine Action and to persuade the UK government to acknowledge Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide.
Arrestees included former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg, NHS workers, Quakers and a blind wheelchair user.
Robert Del Naja, of music group Massive Attack, and Human rights activist Bianca Jagger attended the protest holding signs and acting as spokespeople.
Poet Alice Oswald and environmentalist Jonathon Porritt also attended.
The police said the detained protesters were taken to prisoner processing points in the Westminster area, and those whose details could be confirmed were bailed, with conditions not to attend any further protest in support of Palestine Action.
“Those whose details were refused, or could not be verified, were taken to custody suites across London,” the force said.
Organisers Defend our Juries said 50 people had been arrested by the end of the hour-long sit-in – “only a fraction” of 600-700 sign-holders, as numbers passed their expectations.
The Metropolitan Police said: “That claim simply isn’t true.
“We estimate there were around 500 to 600 people in Parliament Square when the protest began, but many were onlookers, media people or people not holding placards in support of Palestine Action.
“We are confident that anyone who came to Parliament Square today to hold a placard expressing support for Palestine Action was either arrested or is in the process of being arrested.”
Counter-demo
Several counter-demonstrators carrying placards that read “Palestine Action terrorises Britain while Hamas hides in hospitals, schools and mosques”, briefly walked along the crowd before being led away by police officers.
Other clusters of protesters who were not holding placards gathered around the Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela statues in the square singing pro-Palestinian chants.
Officers were holding individual demonstrators sat on the edge of the grass before escorting them through swelling crowds to police vans parked on the edge of the square.
A separate group of officers attended to protesters lying next to the fenced-off Emmeline Pankhurst statue.
They later began arresting protesters sat in the middle of Parliament Square.
The officers lifted the protesters – some sitting and some lying flat – off the ground before escorting them away.
Banned
In July, parliament banned Palestine Action under antiterrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain's support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
Legal challenge
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
Amnesty International wrote to the Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley claiming any arrests would be in breach of international human rights law.
Other police forces have taken the decision not to arrest sign-holders at demonstrations elsewhere.
Counter-terrorism police said this week they had charged three of 130 sign-holders arrested in London at protests last month, a day after Defend Our Juries claimed they were holding back from prosecuting in case the law was changed.
A representative for Defend Our Juries said: “The fact that unprecedented numbers came out today risking arrest and possible imprisonment, shows how repulsed and ashamed people are about our government’s ongoing complicity in a live-streamed genocide, and the lengths people are prepared to go to defend this country’s ancient liberties.”
A Home Office representative said: “The Home Secretary has been clear that the proscription of Palestine Action is not about Palestine, nor does it affect the freedom to protest on Palestinian rights.
“It only applies to the specific and narrow organisation whose activities do not reflect or represent the thousands of people across the country who continue to exercise their fundamental rights to protest on different issues.
“Freedom to protest is a cornerstone of our democracy and we protect it fiercely.
“The decision to proscribe was based on strong security advice and the unanimous recommendation by the expert cross-government proscription review group.
“This followed serious attacks the group has committed, involving violence, significant injuries and extensive criminal damage.”
