London Police Arrest 523 Pro-Palestinian Protesters in Largest Mass Ar

British police arrested 523 people at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in London's Trafalgar Square on Saturday, ranging in age from 18 to 87, in one of the largest mass arrests in modern British history. The protest was specifically designed to challenge the UK government's ban on Palestine Action, a direct-action group proscribed under anti-terrorism legislation in July 2025 that placed it in the same legal category as al-Qaeda and ISIS.

The demonstrators, organized by the activist group Defend Our Juries, held placards reading "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action", a deliberate act of civil disobedience, as expressing support for a proscribed organization carries a sentence of up to 14 years in prison under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Many wore Palestinian scarves and sat peacefully on the ground or in camping chairs. Police carried away protesters, including an elderly woman with walking sticks.

What is Palestine Action and why was it banned?

Palestine Action, founded in 2020, describes itself as a pro-Palestinian organization using direct action to disrupt the UK arms industry, particularly targeting Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense contractor with facilities in Britain. The group conducted over 45 documented actions including breaking into facilities, chaining themselves to machinery, occupying rooftops, and daubing buildings with red paint. Their most notable success was forcing the closure of Elbit's Ferranti site in Oldham in January 2022.

The triggering incident for the ban came on June 20, 2025, when activists broke into RAF Brize Norton, the UK's largest RAF station, and sprayed red paint into the engines of two military tanker planes, causing an estimated £7 million in damage. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the proscription three days later. In a controversial move, Palestine Action was bundled with two unrelated groups, a neo-Nazi organization and the Russian Imperial Movement, in a single proscription order. Parliament voted 385-26 to approve the ban on July 2, 2025.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk called the proscription a "disturbing misuse of counter-terrorism legislation," noting that international standards confine terrorism to acts "intended to cause death or serious injury," not property damage. A declassified MI6 intelligence assessment from September 2025 stated that most of Palestine Action's activities would not meet the legal standard of terrorism.

In February 2026, the UK High Court ruled the ban was "disproportionate" and unlawful, in breach of freedom of expression. However, Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood obtained permission to appeal, keeping the ban in force pending a hearing scheduled for April 28-29. Metropolitan Police, which had briefly stopped arresting supporters after the ruling, reversed course in March and resumed arrests.

Since the ban took effect, over 2,350 people have been arrested, almost all for holding signs expressing support. Hunger strikes by eight imprisoned Palestine Action activists were described as the largest in the UK since the 1981 Irish hunger strikes. The campaign has drawn support from figures including musician Brian Eno, who organized a fundraiser at Wembley Arena raising £1.5 million, and novelist Sally Rooney, who publicly pledged funding.

Home Secretary Cooper maintained: "The right to protest is one we protect fiercely but this is very different from displaying support for this one specific and narrow, proscribed organization."