Nearly 500 Arrested at London Protest Supporting Banned Palestine Action Group
Nearly 500 demonstrators were arrested in central London on Saturday after taking part in protests supporting Palestine Action, an organization outlawed by the UK government in July. Police said the group’s supporters defied pleas from ministers and law enforcement to postpone the event following Thursday’s deadly terror attack at a Manchester synagogue.
The Metropolitan Police reported 492 arrests throughout the day, including 488 for showing support for a proscribed organization. The youngest person detained was 18 and the oldest 89. Four others were taken into custody for unrelated offenses such as public disorder, assault, or being wanted for other matters. As of late Saturday night, 297 people remained in custody while the rest had been released on bail.
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The demonstrations, organized by Defend Our Juries, drew around 1,000 participants to Trafalgar Square. A smaller group earlier unfurled a banner supporting Palestine Action on Westminster Bridge, leading to several arrests. Police described a slow process of removing protesters from the square, explaining that many refused to walk and had to be carried by teams of five officers.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had appealed to organizers to “respect the grief of British Jews” as the country mourned the victims of the Manchester synagogue attack that left two dead and several wounded. Jewish community leaders also criticized the decision to proceed with the demonstration.
Zoe Cohen, a member of Defend Our Juries, said she joined the event as both “a Jewish person grieving after the appalling synagogue attack” and someone “grieving for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been murdered, displaced and starved in Gaza.” She said canceling the vigil would have meant “letting terror win” and insisted that compassion could be extended to victims of “multiple atrocities at one time.”
Later in the evening, police said a separate protest formed in Whitehall, where demonstrators blocked roads and attempted to march toward Parliament Square. Officers imposed conditions under the Public Order Act, requiring the crowd to disperse and move to Richmond Terrace. The Met said the majority of those who remained in Trafalgar Square by nightfall were onlookers not displaying any materials linked to the banned group.
