139 Arrested at London Palestine Action Ban Protest

London police have arrested 139 people at a demonstration against the ban on Palestine Action. It is the largest such gathering since Andy Burnham became prime minister.

What happened in Battersea

Hundreds of people gathered outside the US embassy in Battersea, south London. Signs read: "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action." A vigil for the group was also held outside the US consulate in Edinburgh.

The Metropolitan police had warned that participants faced arrest in what it called a robust policing operation. Anyone playing a key role in organizing the event, giving instructions or providing logistical support would probably be committing an offence, it said. On X the force reported that 139 people had been arrested and that officers were still making arrests.

Commander Adam Slonecki, who leads the operation, said supporting a proscribed organization is unlawful and that those attending were "essentially meeting to purposefully commit a crime".

Organizers' account

Defend Our Juries, the group behind the protests, estimated that around 400 people took part. It said the Met was afraid of helping to embarrass the US. By its count, more than 4,000 arrests have been made for supporting Palestine Action since the ban came into force. It says these make up the vast majority of terror arrests since last July.

Two of those sitting outside the embassy were quoted. Sue Morhall, 79, a retiree, said she has been arrested five or six times before and feels fine about it. She thinks Burnham may reverse the ban, perhaps after the American midterm elections. The Rev Bill White, 72, said he resigned from the Labour party after the group was proscribed as a terrorist organization. He called the law bad and said that as a faith leader he had no choice but to attend.

Political backdrop

The supreme court in the UK hears an appeal against the group's terror designation on 4 November, so the protests came just ahead of that hearing. A similar demonstration outside the Labour party conference in Liverpool saw more than 160 people arrested or reported for summons.

At that conference, two activists confronted foreign secretary Ed Miliband over a meal at Pizza Express and pressed him about the arrests. Video showed one of them urging him to declare a genocide in Gaza and lift the ban. Miliband said he was happy to talk about it at another time.

The new government is under pressure to lift the ban. Shabana Mahmood, who has stood firm in favor of the proscription, stayed on as home secretary.

The Palestine Action ban has also reached public figures. Sarah Helm, wife of the prime minister's national security adviser Jonathan Powell, was accused of backing the group after an X post. The Met later judged that the post did not meet the criminal threshold. One woman holding a sign copying that post was still arrested in London.

Our take

The size of the arrest numbers shows the policy remains a live test for the new government. The Supreme Court hearing on 4 November may shape what happens next, and it is worth watching whether the Met keeps the same approach to large gatherings afterwards. Whether Burnham will change course is unclear from what has been reported.

Source: the Guardian