More than 300 people were arrested Saturday during a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Nine Elms, London, police said. The Metropolitan Police recorded 325 arrests, 320 of which were for “expressing support for a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act.”
The demonstration drew a crowd of hundreds, many holding signs that read “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” The protest was part of a broader campaign against the group’s ban, which was imposed in July 2025 and is set to be reviewed by the UK Supreme Court after the co‑founder of Palestine Action appealed.
Home Office officials have pledged to defend the ban robustly, while Amnesty International UK has condemned the arrests and urged the government to lift the proscription. Defend Our Juries, which has coordinated protests, said the weekend’s detentions pushed the total number of arrests since the ban to over 4,000, describing the action as “truly dystopian.”
Among those detained was 75‑year‑old retired lawyer Charles Allison, who travelled from Cumbria to protest. He warned that civil liberties were being “devalued and watered down” and expressed hope that the Supreme Court would view the proscription as unlawful. Another protester, David Bolden, called the ban an “absurd law.”
Metropolitan Police officers made arrests into the evening, moving demonstrators to police vans. In some cases, officers had to carry protesters who refused to walk. The arrests were met with chants of “Free, free Palestine” from the crowd.
With 3,630 arrests recorded in the year ending June 2026, the total since the group’s proscription now stands at 4,089, according to Home Office figures seen by the BBC.
Amnesty International UK has called the arrests an assault on free speech, while Defend Our Juries described them as unjust. The UK Supreme Court is scheduled to review the ban, but the Home Office remains firm in its defense of the legislation.
