POLICE have banned a planned protest against the proscription of Palestine Action from taking place outside Westminster.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is expected to announce the move in a ministerial statement on Monday, which would effectively treat Palestine Action as a terrorist group and would make it illegal for people to join or express support.
It comes after the group posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
The clip shows one person riding an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker and appearing to spray paint into its jet engine.
Reports of plans to proscribe the group have received widespread criticism, with Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie branding it "deeply authoritarian", while former first minister Humza Yousaf said: "If the UK Government believes those protesting against the atrocities in Gaza are terrorists, but those killing children should be supported and provided with weapons, then this Government has not only lost its way, it has lost its conscience."
An emergency protest was organised in London on Monday in response to the reports, backed by more than 30 groups including Campaign Against Arms Trade and Stop The War Coalition.
Yet while the protest was initially meant to take place outside the UK Parliament from 12pm, Palestine Action said the location had been changed to Trafalgar Square after claiming the Metropolitan Police had "banned" it from taking place outside Westminster.
The Metropolitan police are trying to deter support from Palestine Action, by banning the protest from taking place at the Houses of Parliament. Don't let them win! Make sure everyone is aware of the location change to Trafalgar Square, London. Mobilise from 12PM. pic.twitter.com/IbOURi2Oma
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) June 23, 2025
The Met Police has imposed an exclusion zone around Parliament, with protestors facing arrest if they enter the area.
Police also said that any demonstrations by the group in central London cannot begin before 12pm and must end by 3pm.
It is thought that the exclusion zone, which was imposed under the Public Order Act, is one of the toughest restrictions ever placed around Parliament.
It includes Parliament Square, Whitehall, Westminster Bridge and Victoria Embankment up to Charing Cross.
On Sunday, Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley released a statement saying he was "shocked and frustrated" by the planned demonstration.
Branding Palestine Action an "organised extremist criminal group", he said that the Met Police had "no power in law" to prevent the protest from taking place until the group is proscribed.
He added: "The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest.”
Responding to the statement, Palestine Action wrote on Twitter/X: "The British state want to proscribe Palestine Action and simultaneously ban people from protesting it in support of us at Parliament where the decision is ultimately made?
"And they call us undemocratic and extreme?"
The Met has been contacted for comment.
