London police arrest 48 as hundreds protest Palestine Action ban

Police have arrested at least 139 people after protesters defied a warning not to attend a rally in London against the proscription of Palestine Action, which is classified as a “terrorist” organisation under United Kingdom law.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the United States embassy on Saturday to oppose the ban, which came into effect in July last year under the government of then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The demonstration comes ahead of a Supreme Court appeal on Wednesday challenging the campaign group’s proscription.

In a post on X on Saturday evening, London’s Metropolitan Police said “139 people have now been arrested”, up from the 48 it said it detained earlier in the day. “The majority of arrests have been for expressing support for a proscribed organisation,” it said.

Responding to the police statement, Labour Party MP John McDonnell posted on X, saying someone protesting against the government’s decision to proscribe an organisation cannot be “automatically interpreted” as them supporting that organisation and “therefore committing an arrestable offence”.

He added that he believes the government “made the wrong decision in proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation”.

Saturday’s rally is the first mass protest against the proscription since Prime Minister Andy Burnham assumed office in July.

The decision to designate the group a “terrorist” organisation has triggered uproar among sections of British society, with critics arguing that it is part of a wider crackdown aimed at silencing pro-Palestine voices. The proscription means Palestine Action has been added to a list of banned organisations that also includes al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).

Protesters also gathered outside the US consulate in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital. There have been no reports of arrests there.

Demonstrators in both London and Edinburgh could be seen holding placards reading “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”.

Defend Our Juries, which organised the protests, said Saturday’s arrests took the total number of people detained for defying the Palestine Action ban to more than 4,000 since July 2025.

“It is truly dystopian that there have now been over 4,000 arrests under terror laws for peaceful vigils silently expressing opposition to genocide and support for the protest group Palestine Action,” a spokesperson for the group said, as reported by UK news agency Press Association.

“The ban on Palestine Action was straight out of [US President Donald] Trump’s playbook, so it’s fitting that this significant milestone has been reached on Halloween and outside the US embassy,” the spokesperson added, saying the proscription was about the UK government “appeasing Trump and the Israeli weapons companies that Palestine Action disrupted, not about any kind of terrorist threat”.

Felix Jakens, Amnesty International UK’s head of communications and campaigns, also called on the government to reverse Palestine Action’s proscription.

“The sight yet again of grandparents, teenagers and everyone in between being hauled into police vans for peacefully holding placards is a disgraceful attack on freedom of speech,” Jakens said in response to the arrests on Saturday.

“It’s past time for the government to drop the proscription of Palestine Action and reform our laws so that communities have more power to demonstrate on the issues they care about, not less.”