POLICE Scotland has wrongly accused Scots of breaching terrorism laws after misidentifying people at a demonstration in Edinburgh earlier this month, the Sunday National has been told.
One activist, Alex, said he had been visited by police accusing him of having shown support for a proscribed group – Palestine Action – at the demonstration on September 6, despite the fact he was “not even in the same city”.
Another, Eilidh, said she had turned herself in after police wrongly visited two different addresses looking for her, “causing distress to those living there”.
Defend Our Juries (DOJ), the campaign group which has organised peaceful protests against the UK Government’s proscription of Palestine Action, said it knew of “at least” three people who had been visited by police citing terror laws despite not taking part in demonstrations.
On September 6, outside the UK Government’s Edinburgh headquarters, around 100 people from DOJ and the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) protested by holding signs or wearing T-shirts which read “I oppose genocide I support Palestine Action” and “Genocide in Palestine time to take action” respectively.
No arrests were made during the one-hour protest – unlike a parallel event in London where some 900 people were lifted – but Police Scotland officers have instead been tracking people down and charging them with terror offences in the weeks that have followed.
DOJ reported that two people were arrested later on September 6, after leaving the protest, and five more have been charged since then. The SPSC said it knew of at least 13 people charged for wearing T-shirts.
An SPSC spokesperson accused Police Scotland of “stepping up their harassment and attempts to intimidate, using cowardly tactics of night-time door-knocks”.
Environmental activist Alex said: "It's an upside-down world when protesters face harsh consequences for peacefully standing against genocide, yet the UK Government and arms companies are enabling a slaughter in Gaza.
“Now, Police Scotland are drafting lists and harassing random peaceful environmental activists who were not even in the same city when the Gaza protest took place. It is somehow both sinister and incompetent at the same time.
“It's a waste of police time and resources that are desperately needed elsewhere rather than repressing dissent or arresting ill and elderly pensioners."
Eilidh, who was charged under terrorism legislation after handing herself in on September 22, said: “The incompetence of Police Scotland highlights the irony of the whole situation.
“What we are being accused of is a very serious crime, yet when I was arrested, I wasn’t put in a cell, I wasn’t interviewed, and I wasn’t even put in handcuffs.
“It is clear that we are not being treated like terrorists because we all know, including Police Scotland, that we are not.”
Marjorie, a 67-year-old former civil servant from East Dunbartonshire, said she struggles with her health and was prepared for arrest on September 6, “though I did bring a chair as I cannot get up and down from the floor without assistance”.
However, she said she was not prepared for a police visit to her home in the days that followed.
“When I dragged myself out of my sick bed with difficulty, I managed to get my housecoat on and, with the help of my walking stick, made it to the door, three casually dressed people were at the door.
“When they said, ‘We are officers from Edinburgh police,’ I was a wee bit taken aback, feeling as if my chest pains were never going to stop.”
She added: “So here is me now, never even litter-dropped in my life, always law-abiding, working for the UK Government for decades before ill health made me retire, being charged as though I'm as bad as a real ISIS terrorist.”
Cathy, a retired teacher who has faced arrest for holding a placard, accused Police Scotland of “cowardly” behaviour, claiming the force had let the protest on September 6 go ahead only to “ambush people at home, some too sick to leave the house, some with caring responsibilities, and ‘politely’ arrest them”.
“They muddle and make a mockery of the ‘policing’ of ‘terrorism’ while putting innocent actionists at serious risk,” she added.
Amnesty International’s Liz Thomson, the charity’s acting Scotland director, said Police Scotland “pursuing arrests and criminalising people as terrorists in the aftermath of the event isn’t justified”.
“No peaceful activist should be facing arrest or prosecution for their participation in the action,” she added.
“Something is going very wrong when these people are being arrested under terrorism laws.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Following protests in Edinburgh on Saturday, September 6, 2025, two men aged 67 and 82 were arrested and charged in connection with supporting a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000.
“Investigations continued and a further eight people – six women and two men aged between 23 and 78 – have been arrested and charged in relation to supporting a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000.
"Expressing support for Palestine Action Group is an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000.
“Police Scotland is a rights-based organisation and our role is to ensure public safety while balancing the rights of protesters who wish to peacefully demonstrate.
"We know there are strong feelings towards the situation in Palestine, and people continue to express their views about that through protest and demonstrations without breaking counter-terrorism laws.”
