Police arrest 48 at London protest backing proscribed Palestine Action group

Arrests outside the US embassy

Police arrested people on Saturday afternoon, 31 October, at a demonstration in support of Palestine Action outside the US embassy in Nine Elms, south-west London. Officers had warned beforehand that anyone taking part in a demonstration backing the group would face arrest, citing an offence under the Terrorism Act. The Metropolitan Police said on X that it had arrested 48 people by mid-afternoon and that officers were still making arrests. The Guardian counted more than 100 protesters, while the Independent cited reports that around 400 people were expected. Many carried signs reading "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action". Officers began arresting people shortly after 12.30pm, and some who refused to walk were carried to police vans parked on Ponton Road before being taken to police stations.

Police powers and the operation

Police applied a Section 35 dispersal order covering parts of central London, including the embassy grounds, from 8am to 11pm on Saturday. Under the order, people can be told to leave the area or face arrest. The force said it acted after receiving information that a group planned to attend an event and express support for a proscribed organisation. Commander Adam Slonecki, who leads the policing operation, said:

“All those intending on coming to this event know that supporting a proscribed organisation is unlawful - they are essentially meeting to purposefully commit a crime.”

He warned that people organising the event, giving instructions or providing logistical support would very likely be committing an offence. He also said that people holding placards were not the only ones who should expect to be arrested, and that the police were not aiming to stop people expressing their views.

The ban and the Supreme Court appeal

Palestine Action was proscribed in 2025 after a series of vandalism incidents, including an attack on a Royal Air Force base and one on the Bristol premises of the Israeli arms company Elbit Systems. The Court of Appeal upheld the ban in June 2026. Five judges there described the ban as a "justified and proportionate" interference with freedom of expression, overturning a High Court ruling from February that had found the then home secretary Yvette Cooper's decision unlawful. That challenge was brought by the group's co-founder, Huda Ammori, who is now contesting the ban before the Supreme Court. The hearing is set for 4 and 5 November. The Guardian described Saturday's rally as the first mass demonstration under Andy Burnham's premiership. The United States designated the group a "foreign terrorist organisation" in August.

Edinburgh vigil and arrest totals

A separate vigil took place outside the US consulate in Edinburgh, organised by Defend Our Juries Scotland. Its spokesperson said the group would keep defying the ban and would not be silenced:

“We will continue to defy this ban, and we will not be silenced.”

The spokesperson said legal proceedings in Scotland had been delayed pending the Supreme Court hearings in London. Defend Our Juries, which organises the demonstrations, says more than 3,900 people have been arrested since the ban took effect, a count that excludes Saturday's arrests. Steve Masters, a 56-year-old former Royal Air Force member who has already been arrested four times, told AFP that the designation has no legal basis and amounts to a political act. The UK government has been approached for comment.