More than 70 people have been arrested across the UK in several demonstrations where references to Palestine Action were allegedly made, a week after the group was banned as a terrorist organisation.
Protesters gathered for the second week in a row in central London after police reiterated that showing support for the group was a criminal offence, resulting in the Metropolitan police making 42 arrests.
On Saturday, shortly after 1pm, two small groups of protesters demonstrated in Parliament Square, sitting at the steps of the statues of both Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. The action was organised by the campaign group Defend Our Juries, which said more demonstrations were due to take place elsewhere in London and in Manchester, Cardiff and Derry.
Defend Our Juries said on X: “Over 300 police officers have been seen to carry away dozens of people from the foot of statues of Nelson Mandela and Gandhi for alleged ‘terrorism offences’. Those arrested are accused of holding signs in support of Palestine Action.”
In Manchester, 16 people holding signs referencing Palestine Action at the foot of the Emmeline Pankhurst statue in St Peter’s Square were arrested.
A Greater Manchester police spokesperson said: “At around 2.30pm this afternoon, we responded to a protest taking place in St Peter’s Square – 16 people were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000. The group peacefully dissipated at around 3.25pm.”
In Cardiff, 13 people who sat outside the BBC Cymru Wales headquarters holding signs that appeared to express support for the group were arrested.
A police spokesperson said: “South Wales police supports the right for people to make their voices heard through protest providing it is done lawfully. We can confirm that 13 people were arrested earlier today during a protest which took place in the vicinity of Central Square, Cardiff.”
“They were arrested on suspicion of committing offences under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000.”
Defend Our Juries said officers in Manchester pushed “through crowds of onlookers to arrest sign-holders, including three vicars and many pensioners”.
In London, Met officers formed a cordon around those demonstrating, who wrote messages appearing to support Palestine Action with black markers on pieces of cardboard, and silently held the signs aloft.
Officers could be seen searching the bags of protesters and taking their ID cards. Some demonstrators could be seen lying on top of each other while police held their handmade signs.
The protesters were then led away from the statues by officers into waiting police vans parked around the square.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, announced plans to ban Palestine Action late last month, days after activists from the group allegedly broke into RAF Brize Norton and defaced two military aircraft with spray paint.
MPs voted in favour of proscribing the group on 2 July. The House of Lords backed the move without a vote the following day.
UN experts, civil liberties groups, cultural figures and hundreds of lawyers have condemned the ban as draconian and said it sets a dangerous precedent by conflating protest with terrorism.
The ban means Palestine Action has become the first direct action protest group to be banned under the Terrorism Act, placing it in the same category as Islamic State, al-Qaida and the far-right group National Action.
