Hundreds arrested after London demonstration in support of Palestine Action

More than 300 demonstrators have been arrested after they gathered outside the US embassy in London on Saturday in support of proscribed group Palestine Action.

Hundreds of people took part in the protest in Nine Elms, southwest London, on Saturday, with many holding signs reading: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”

In a post on X on Sunday, the Metropolitan Police said it had arrested 325 people, with the majority (320) detained for expressing support for a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act.

Expressing support for the group is an offence under the Terrorism Act after it was proscribed in June 2025.

Many demonstrators applauded and chanted “free, free Palestine” as people were arrested and taken to police vans parked on Ponton Road, just off the embassy grounds, before being transferred to police stations on Saturday.

Others held signs reading “we are protesters, not terrorists” and “heroes, not terrorists”, while some wore keffiyehs and waved Palestinian flags.

Officers started arresting some demonstrators one by one around midday on Saturday, sometimes carrying them if they refused to walk.

Organised by activist group Defend Our Juries, the protest took place before an appeal at Britain’s supreme court against Palestine Action’s designation as a terror group on November 4th.

A Defend Our Juries spokesperson said arrests on Saturday took the total number of people detained for defying the ban to more than 4,000 since July 2025, which they said was “truly dystopian”.

The spokesperson said: “How can [UK prime minister] Andy Burnham possibly justify arrests today for holding up words which, just weeks ago, were deemed to be below the criminal threshold when expressed by the wife of his own national security adviser?

“This makes a further mockery of the proscription, which becomes more impossible to sustain by the day.” - PA