Police detained more than 100 protesters who demonstrated outside the US embassy in London to voice backing for the banned group Palestine Action.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that, as of 6.15pm on Saturday, 139 arrests had been made, mostly for showing support for a proscribed organisation. Further detentions were expected.
Rally in Nine Elms
Organisers said it had expected at least 400 people to join the rally in Nine Elms, south-west London. It means officers may have detained at least a quarter of attendees.
Defend Our Juries, the group behind the demonstration, had urged protesters to hold up signs reading: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”.
Before the gathering, the Met had warned that those taking part faced “arrest as part of a robust policing operation”.
Palestine Action was proscribed in June 2025, meaning any public display of support for the group constitutes a crime under the Terrorism Act.
Arrests and dispersal order
Some protesters could be heard applauding and chanting “free, free Palestine” when people were taken away to police vans parked in Ponton Road, just off the embassy grounds, before being transferred to police stations.
Officers started arresting some protesters one by one shortly after 12.30pm, sometimes carrying them if they refused to walk.
Charles Allison, a retired lawyer who travelled almost 300 miles from his home in Cumbria to attend, said he was demonstrating because he “feared for our liberties”.
The 75-year-old said: “I decided that I ought to try and do something,and this is the little bit that I’m doing.
“I fear for our civil liberties, which are being devalued and watered down, even by this new Labour Government.
“So I’m dejected, but enthused that there are so many wonderful people protesting.”
He added: “I speak as an ex-lawyer, so it’s uncomfortable for me to break the law deliberately. But I felt that I could do no other.”
Mr Allison was taken away by two police officers just before 1pm, after he was told he posed a “threat”.
Court appeal and reaction
The protest was arranged by Defend Our Juries ahead of an appeal next week at the Supreme Court against Palestine Action’s designation as a terror group. It is due to be heard on November 4.
A spokesman for Defend Our Juries said arrests on Saturday took the total number of people detained for defying the ban to more than 4,000 since July 2025.
“It is truly dystopian that there have now been over 4,000 arrests under terror laws for peaceful vigils silently expressing opposition to genocide and support for the protest group Palestine Action,” the spokesman said.
“The ban on Palestine Action was straight out of Trump’s playbook, so it’s fitting that this significant milestone has been reached on Halloween and outside the US embassy, laying bare the terrifying attacks on free speech that this authoritarian ban has unleashed.”
Met Police said a Section 35 dispersal order was in place in parts of London, covering the embassy grounds, from 8am to 11pm on Saturday.
The force said the measure, which means people can be ordered to leave the area or face arrest, followed “information that a group is planning to attend an event and express support for a proscribed organisation”.
Lauren Wallace said she had brought her four-year-old daughter Lilah to the demonstration to show support for her own mother.
The 36-year-old said: “My mum’s here today to hold a sign, and I’m unbelievably proud of her and respect her so much for doing it.
“And I think, in her words, she maybe has a freedom to do it that me, with a young daughter and a job, probably don’t have.
“So I came to support her and show solidarity with her, and also to, I guess, show my daughter the power of protest and how important it is to be political.”
Defend Our Juries said the US embassy location had been chosen because Washington had “not shied away” from participation in the Palestine conflict.
In August, the US government announced sanctions against Palestine Action, designating it as a terror group.
Demonstrators held signs reading “we are protesters, not terrorists” and “heroes, not terrorists”, while some wore keffiyehs and waved Palestinian flags.
Scotland Yard said Palestine Action-related protests “take significant police resources away from the neighbourhoods and communities where they are most needed”.
The Met spent £1.3 million on six “Palestine-Israel public order events” in June and July, according to its response to a freedom of information request.
In June, five Court of Appeal judges said the ban on Palestine Action as a terror group was a “justified and proportionate” interference on freedom of expression rights.
This overturned the judgment of three judges at the High Court who ruled in February that the then-home secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to ban Palestine Action was unlawful, after a legal challenge from the group’s co-founder Huda Ammori.
