In 2024, a total of 248 people were arrested in Britain for terrorist-related activity.
Within a matter of hours on Saturday, the Metropolitan Police arrested more than double that as 522 protesters were handcuffed under terror laws for holding placards declaring: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
Half of those arrested – who face up to 14 years in prison if they are convicted under the Terrorism Act for supporting a proscribed organisation – were over 60 years old, including 15 octogenarians. Many were applauded by onlookers as they were hauled away by officers.
The scale of the challenge forced the Met to use a “street bail” system to prevent police stations from being overwhelmed by what was described by organisers as a “momentous act of collective defiance” in Parliament Square.
The force used two processing points in Westminster to deal with 320 protesters, who were asked to confirm their details before being released and ordered to appear at a police station at a future date.
A total of 212 were transported to police custody, likely because they refused to confirm their identity or were already on police bail.
The Met said they were aware of online photos and footage suggesting some people returned to Parliament Square after being released on bail, but conceded it would be “entirely unrealistic” to recognise these individuals.
Over the coming weeks, officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command will work to put together case files and secure charges against those arrested. In some instances, charges will also require approval by the Attorney General Lord Hermer.
But the threat of arrest and prison appears to be doing little to deter supporters who have vowed to continue to defy home secretary Yvette Cooper’s controversial decision to ban the direct-action group with monthly protests, organised by Defend Our Juries, ahead of a High Court legal challenge November.
The Met says they proved they can respond to “significant protest” requiring many arrests, adding: “We will do so again if we are required to.”
However, the toll of hundreds of terror arrests on a force already grappling with a £260million funding shortfall, a staff recruitment crisis and regular large-scale rallies linked to the Israel-Gaza conflict, should not be underestimated.
Paula Dodds, chairman of the Met Police Federation, warned “tiredness is setting in” for officers.
“Officers are overstretched, rest days are being cancelled,” she told The Independent. “Leave may be cancelled in the coming weeks as we try to ensure that we have resources to police protests as well as business as usual to keep London safe.
“We will need to call on more mutual aid officers to assist if these protesters continue to come out in numbers. It has just been relentless, and I think we are going to see that for a while yet.”
She warned the workload of processing arrests, investigating offences and building files to be passed to the CPS increases demand across all departments at a time when the force is already under strain.
In the coming weeks alone, officers face the threat of more anti-migrant protests at hotels housing asylum seekers, the restart of the football season and managing Notting Hill Carnival.
She said “only time will tell” if the resulting pressures result in increased levels of sickness or more officers leaving the force.
Saturday’s protest comes on the back of 221 similar arrests across the country, including dozens in London, in the weeks since Palestine Action was banned after activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and sprayed two military planes with red paint.
Last week, the first three people were charged for flouting the ban. They are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in September.
Ms Cooper has continued to defend proscribing the direct-action group, repeating claims that an assessment found evidence of “ideas for further attacks” which cannot be reported due to ongoing legal proceedings.
“Many people may not yet know the reality of this organisation, but the assessments are very clear - this is not a non-violent organisation,” she said. “UK national security and public safety must always be our top priority.”
Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori claimed the latest demonstration was “humiliating” for Ms Cooper and would “go down in our country’s history as a momentous act of collective defiance of an unprecedented attack on our fundamental freedoms”.
She said the fact most of those arrested at the protest were “given street bail and allowed to go home” proved the current ban was “unenforceable”.
“It’s clear that more and more ordinary people appalled by this anti-democratic, authoritarian ban will defy it en-masse and it is simply not possible to arrest them all,” she added.
