“Officers were punched, kicked, spat on and had objects thrown at them.”
Protesters gesture at a departing police van at a "Lift The Ban" demonstration in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action, calling for the recently imposed ban to be lifted, in Parliament Square, central London, on September 6, 2025. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP) (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Claire Smart said the majority of protests, including the Palestine Coalition march, attended by around 20,000 people, "passed with very few arrests".
But "this was not the case at the protest organised by Defend Our Juries in support of the proscribed terrorist organisation Palestine Action".
Smart, who led the policing operation, said: “It is intolerable that those whose job it is to enforce the law and keep people safe – in this case arresting individuals committing offences under the Terrorism Act – should be subject to this level of abuse.
“The tactics deployed by supporters of Palestine Action in their attempt to overwhelm the justice system, as well as the level of violence seen in the crowd, required significant resource which took officers out of neighbourhoods to the detriment of the Londoners who rely on them.”
Defend Our Juries said the rally "will go down as one of the biggest mass acts of civil disobedience in British history.”
A spokesperson for the group said: “This shows the new home secretary on her first day in office that the Palestine Action ban is impossible to enforce and a preposterous waste of resources. The terrorism laws were not designed to be wielded against a domestic protest group, or to arrest thousands across civil society for holding cardboard signs.”
The arrests on Saturday follow a similar stunt last month, when more than 500 protesters were detained for holding similar signs.
Palestine Action was designated a terrorist organisation on July 5, following a break in at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where activists for the group caused an estimated £7 million in damage to aircraft.
The proscription makes membership or support of the group a criminal offence, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Former home secretary Yvette Cooper previously defended the decision, stating that supporters “don’t know the full nature” of the group and that it is “not a non-violent organisation.”
Before it was banned, the group campaigned against Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems. At the facility in Bristol, protesters smashed windows, mounted the roof, blockaded entry and covered the site in red paint.
In the wake of the campaign, the manufacturer has closed its doors, according to the Guardian, which reported the site was deserted earlier this week, with "no staff present aside from a security guard stationed in a vehicle parked outside the premises".
Palestine Action has been granted permission for a judicial review in November of the proscription, but the home secretary is expected to try to overturn the permission decision.
