UK police detain dozens at London protest against Palestine Action ban

by | Jul 12, 2025 | World

Demonstrators gather in British capital for second week in a row in support of recently banned activism group.United Kingdom police have arrested dozens of people at a protest in London calling for a ban on the campaign group Palestine Action to be lifted.
The protest at London’s Parliament Square on Saturday was the latest demonstration against the UK’s crackdown on Palestinian rights activism.
“Officers have made 41 arrests for showing support for a proscribed organisation. One person has been arrested for common assault,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
The arrests followed last Saturday’s detention of 29 people, including a priest and some health professionals, who had gathered at Parliament Square after a last-ditch legal bid to stop the group from being proscribed under “anti-terrorism” legislation failed.
The ban, which cleared Parliament in early July, was passed after activists broke into a military base last month and sprayed red paint on two planes in protest at the UK’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza, which leading rights groups have described as a genocide.
The move has raised fears about freedom of expression in the country, putting Palestine Action on a par with armed groups like al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) in the UK, making it a criminal offence to support or be part of the protest group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Protesters at this week’s demonstration had gathered near a statue of former South African President Nelson Mandela outside the British Parliament, silently holding up placards saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” Advertisement

The last of the protesters was lifted from the Nelson Mandela statue shortly after 2:30pm local time (13:30 GMT).
Campaign group Defend Our Juries, which had …

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