London: British police said on Sunday they had arrested almost 900 people at a demonstration the previous day in support of Palestine Action, and the UK government appealed for people to stop demonstrating in support of the banned campaign group.

Britain designated Palestine Action a terrorist group under anti-terrorism legislation in July after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and caused an estimated $14 million of damage to military planes.

That followed vandalism and incidents targeting defence firms in Britain with links to Israel. The group accuses Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government of complicity in what it says are Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Hundreds of Palestine Action supporters have since been arrested at demonstrations, many of them over the age of 60.

Nearly 900 people were arrested Saturday at a protest in London in support of the group Palestine Action, which has been controversially labeled a terrorist organization by the U.K. government.

Police said 857 people were detained for “supporting terrorism,” while 33 more were detained for other offenses. Organizers said an estimated 1,500 people attended the protest in London, with many standing and carrying signs that read, “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”

Saturday’s protest led to the largest mass arrest in support of the group. An estimated 1,600 people have been detained for supporting Palestine Action since the U.K. labeled it a terrorist group in early July.

The designation has sparked free speech concerns and protests throughout Britain. Critics have called it an overreaching application of Britain’s anti-terrorism laws.

“And I’m a terrorist? That’s the joke of it,” said 62-year-old Mike Higgins, a blind protester who uses a wheelchair. “I’ve already been arrested under the Terrorism Act, and I suspect I will be today.”

Palestine Action is a direct action group that committed vandalism and other petty crimes to draw attention to the plight of Palestinians. In March, the group spray-painted a golf course owned by President Trump in Scotland.

The group was designated a terrorist organization after breaking into a Royal Air Force base and spray-painting planes and causing damage with crowbars.

The ban on Palestine Action “raises serious concerns that counterterrorism laws are being applied to conduct that is not terrorist in nature,” United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said.

With News Wire Services

London: British police said on Sunday they had arrested almost 900 people at a demonstration the previous day in support of Palestine Action, and the UK government appealed for people to stop demonstrating in support of the banned campaign group.

Britain designated Palestine Action a terrorist group under anti-terrorism legislation in July after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and caused an estimated $14 million of damage to military planes.

That followed vandalism and incidents targeting defence firms in Britain with links to Israel. The group accuses Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government of complicity in what it says are Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Hundreds of Palestine Action supporters have since been arrested at demonstrations, many of them over the age of 60.

LONDON (AP) — British police said Sunday that they arrested almost 900 people demonstrating in London against a ban on the group Palestine Action, which has been deemed a terrorist organization by the government.

Almost 1,600 people have now been detained, many for silently holding signs supporting the group, since it was outlawed two months ago. Protesters say the ban on Palestine Action is an unwarranted curb on free speech and the right to protest.

The Metropolitan Police force said 890 people were arrested at Saturday’s demonstration, the vast majority, 857, under the Terrorism Act for supporting a proscribed organization. Some 33 were detained for other offenses, including 17 for assaulting police officers.

Defend Our Juries, the campaign group organizing the protest, said 1,500 people took part in the demonstration outside Parliament, sitting down and holding signs reading “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”

Within minutes, police began arresting the demonstrators, as bystanders chanted “Shame on you,” and “Met Police, pick a side, justice or genocide.” There were some scuffles and angry exchanges as officers dragged away demonstrators who went limp as they were removed from the crowd.

“In carrying out their duties today, our officers have been punched, kicked, spat on and had objects thrown at them by protesters,” said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Claire Smart, who called the abuse directed at police “intolerable.”

Defend Our Juries said aggression had come from police officers and dismissed claims that protesters had been violent as “frankly laughable.”

More than 700 people were arrested at earlier protests, and 138 have been charged under the Terrorism Act.

Mike Higgins, 62, who is blind and uses a wheelchair, was arrested last month but returned to demonstrate on Saturday.

“And I’m a terrorist? That’s the joke of it,” he said. “I’ve already been arrested under the Terrorism Act and I suspect I will be today.

“Of course I’ll keep coming back. What choice do I have?”

Direct action protests

The government proscribed Palestine Action in July, after activists broke into a Royal Air Force base and vandalized planes to protest against what they called Britain’s support for Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza. The activists sprayed red paint into the engines of two tanker planes and caused further damage with crowbars.

Proscription made it a crime to publicly support the organization. Membership of, or support for, the group is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Palestine Action has carried out direct action protests in the U.K. since it formed in 2020, including breaking into facilities owned by Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems UK, and has targeted other sites in Britain that participants believe have links with the Israeli military.

The group has targeted defense companies and national infrastructure, and officials say their actions have caused millions of pounds in damage that affect national security.

Banning the group, then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said, “The assessments are very clear, this is not a nonviolent organization.”

Palestine Action has won approval from the High Court to challenge the ban, a ruling the government is seeking to overturn. The case is ongoing, with a hearing scheduled for Sept. 25.

Supporters say the ban stifles free speech

The U.N. human rights chief has criticized the British government’s stance, saying the new law “misuses the gravity and impact of terrorism.”

The decision to designate Palestine Action as a terrorist group “raises serious concerns that counterterrorism laws are being applied to conduct that is not terrorist in nature, and risks hindering the legitimate exercise of fundamental freedoms across the UK,” Volker Türk warned.

He added that according to international standards, terrorist acts should be confined to crimes such as those intended to cause death or serious injury or the taking of hostages.

Huda Ammori, Palestine Action’s co-founder, has condemned the government’s decision to ban it as “catastrophic” for civil liberties, leading to a “much wider chilling effect on freedom of speech.”

The group has been supported by prominent cultural figures including bestselling Irish author Sally Rooney, who said she planned to use the proceeds of her work “to keep backing Palestine Action and direct action against genocide.”

Israel — founded in part as a refuge in the wake of the Holocaust, when some 6 million European Jews were murdered — vehemently denies it is committing genocide.

Britain’s government stressed that proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist group does not affect other lawful groups — including pro-Palestinian or pro-Israel voices — campaigning or peacefully protesting.

About 20,000 people, by a police estimate, attended a separate pro-Palestinian march in London on Saturday.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Organisers say detained demonstrators include ‘vicars and priests, war veterans and descendants of Holocaust survivors’.

Authorities in London have arrested nearly 900 people during a protest in support of the banned group Palestine Action, police say.

The new tally, announced on Sunday, highlights the strict approach that police have taken against the demonstrators, who organisers insisted were nonviolent.

The Metropolitan Police said they arrested 890 people on Saturday, including 857 on suspicion of showing support for a proscribed group. Thirty-three others were detained for allegedly assaulting officers and other public order offences.

Defend Our Juries, the campaign group that organised Saturday’s protest, also rejected police claims that the demonstrators were violent.

“Among the 857 arrestees were vicars and priests, war veterans and descendants of Holocaust survivors, retired teachers and healthcare workers,” the group said in a statement.

It accused the police of making “many false claims and attempts to smear the protesters” to justify arresting peace demonstrators with signs that read: “I oppose genocide – I support Palestine Action.”

“While the Met has failed to provide any evidence backing up their claims, video footage clearly shows the Met violently arresting people, wielding their batons and pushing people to the ground,” Defend Our Juries said.

“We’re nonviolent, how about you?”

The Press Association news agency reported that police drew batons during clashes with protesters. Officers forced their way through the crowd while carrying arrested demonstrators and were seen in shouting confrontations with demonstrators.

Water and plastic bottles were thrown at police, the agency said, while several protesters fell in a crush. One man was photographed with blood streaming down his face after being arrested.

Advertisement

Amnesty International UK, which deployed observers to monitor the protest, also disputed police claims that demonstrators had “co-ordinated” violence at the rally.

“Our observers witnessed the Defend Our Juries protest being entirely peaceful,” the group said.

It called the scenes of the arrests a “shocking demonstration of how the UK’s overly broad terrorism laws are being used to suppress free speech”.

“Police officers, on a number of occasions, were aggressive towards supporters of the protests,” Amnesty said.

“This included violently shoving people away and pulling out batons to make space whilst protesters were arrested and hauled into police vans.”

However, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Claire Smart had earlier claimed that officers faced “co-ordinated” violence during the demonstration.

“You can express your support for a cause without committing an offence under the Terrorism Act or descending into violence and disorder, and many thousands of people do that in London every week,” she said in a statement.

Rallies were also held in Belfast and Edinburgh. Police Scotland said two men, aged 67 and 82, were arrested and charged with “terror” offences while a third man, 63, was charged with a hate crime.

The protests are the latest in a wave of demonstrations against the UK government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The group, which has targeted arms factories and other sites linked to weapons exports to Israel, was banned after it claimed responsibility for spraying two Voyager refuelling and transport planes at a military base with red paint.

Being a member or expressing support for Palestine Action is now a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

In July, United Nations human rights experts raised concerns about what they called the “unjustified labelling of a political protest movement as terrorist”, arguing that “acts of protest that damage property, but are not intended to kill or injure people, should not be treated as terrorism”.

Meanwhile, the Home Office is appealing a High Court ruling allowing Palestine Action’s cofounder Huda Ammori to pursue a legal challenge against the ban.

Ammori launched proceedings against the decision by former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to proscribe the group, arguing the move unlawfully criminalised political dissent.

The weekend protests were held as Israel is intensifying its assault on Gaza, which academics, leading rights groups and UN experts have described as a genocide.

Advertisement

According to UK media reports, British forces have been flying surveillance drones over Gaza in support of Israeli operations.