A girl is detained by cops as supporters of Palestine Motion participate in a mass motion in Parliament Sq., Westminster, central London, on Saturday August 9, 2025. Credit score – Stefan Rousseau—Press Affiliation by way of AP
Police in London arrested no less than 365 protesters on Saturday who defied an anti-terror regulation by holding placards expressing assist for a not too long ago banned pro-Palestinian group.
A whole lot of demonstrators gathered exterior the British Parliament to carry indicators studying “I oppose genocide. I assist Palestine Motion,” in what they mentioned was a protest for freedom of expression.
By doing so, the protesters violated a regulation handed by the British Parliament in early July that labeled Palestine Motion as a terror group and made it unlawful for anybody to publicly present assist for it.
The laws was handed in response to an incident through which activists from the group broke right into a Royal Air Drive base and vandalized two tanker plane in protest towards the UK’s assist for Israel, and towards Israel’s ongoing warfare in Gaza.
“Inside this crowd a big variety of persons are displaying placards expressing assist for Palestine Motion, which is a proscribed group,” the Metropolitan Police Service mentioned on X. “Officers have moved in and are making arrests.” Police later mentioned they’d arrested 365 folks for “supporting a proscribed group.”
Learn extra: Why U.Okay. Police Plan to Arrest Anybody Exhibiting Help for Palestine Motion at Upcoming Protest
Membership of, or assist for, Palestine Motion is a prison offence punishable by as much as 14 years in jail underneath the Terrorism Act 2000.
Saturday’s demonstration was organized by a gaggle known as Defend Our Juries, which known as for folks to attend the protest with indicators expressing assist for Palestine Motion in an illustration of civil disobedience.
“As soon as the which means of ‘terrorism’ is separated from campaigns of violence towards a civilian inhabitants, and prolonged to incorporate these inflicting financial harm or embarrassment to the wealthy, the highly effective and the prison, then the correct to freedom of expression has no which means and democracy is lifeless,” the group mentioned on its web site.
Rights group Amnesty Worldwide described the arrests as “deeply regarding.” It has beforehand criticized the regulation as “excessively broad and vaguely worded and a risk to freedom of expression.”
What’s Palestine Motion?
Palestine Motion was established in 2020 and claims to take “purpose on the infrastructure that sustains the Israeli occupation,” in response to co-founder Huda Ammori.
The group has regularly focused Elbit Techniques, an Israel-based protection contractor that earlier this yr signed a contract with the Israeli authorities price $275 million.
Palestine Motion staged break-ins at Elbit websites throughout the U.Okay. final yr within the metropolis of Bristol, and at a manufacturing facility within the county of Kent, the place round £1 million ($1.33 million) price of property was reportedly destroyed.
The group was proscribed as a terrorist group underneath the 2000 Terrorism Act by House Secretary Yvette Cooper on July 5, after members of the group broke right into a Royal Air Drive base in Oxfordshire on June 20, spray portray two Voyager jets and damaging them with crowbars.
The British Authorities mentioned that the group “has orchestrated a nationwide marketing campaign of direct prison motion towards companies and establishments” and that it “prepares for, promotes, and encourages terrorism.”
“Proscription will allow regulation enforcement to successfully disrupt Palestine Motion,” the federal government order learn, which means that assist for the group is now deemed a prison offence punishable by as much as 14 years in jail.
Palestine Motion was proscribed alongside two teams described as “white-supremacist” actions, the Maniacs Homicide Cult and the Russian Imperial Motion.
The Israel-Hamas warfare was triggered after Hamas launched a terror assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 1,200 folks and taking round 250 hostages. Over 61,000 Palestinians have been killed because the begin of the warfare, in response to Gaza’s Well being Ministry.
Within the absence of impartial monitoring on the bottom, the ministry is the first supply for casualty knowledge relied upon by humanitarian teams, journalists, and worldwide our bodies. Its figures don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants and can’t be independently verified by TIME.
The humanitarian toll in Gaza continues to rise, after a U.N.-backed meals safety physique warned final week that the “worst case famine state of affairs” is unfolding.
“Mounting proof reveals that widespread hunger, malnutrition, and illness are driving an increase in hunger-related deaths,” the Built-in Meals Safety Section Classification (IPC) reported on July 29.
Not less than 197 folks have now died from mass starvation, in response to Gaza’s Well being Ministry.
— Further reporting by Callum Sutherland
Contact us at letters@time.com.
