Demonstrators gathered outside the US consulate in Edinburgh on Saturday afternoon in a vigil supporting Palestine Action, a group proscribed as a terrorist organisation. Many of the protesters held placards reading, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”.
Vigil and placards outside the consulate
The demonstration was organised by Defend Our Juries Scotland. A similar protest was taking place outside the US embassy in Nine Elms, London at the same time. Expressing support for the group is an offence under the Terrorism Act after it was proscribed in June 2025.
A spokesperson for the organisers said they were sitting in “peaceful vigil today to show our solidarity with the Palestinian people” and in opposition to the “absurd ban” on Palestine Action. They added: “We will continue to defy this ban, and we will not be silenced.”
Supreme Court appeal ahead
The protests come ahead of an appeal at the Supreme Court against Palestine Action’s designation as a terror group on November 4. The spokesperson said: “Whilst legal proceedings in Scotland have been delayed pending the hearings in the Supreme Court of England and Wales this coming week, we will continue to mount pressure from all angles. The ban must be lifted, and our Government must take meaningful action to end its complicity in genocide.”
The UK Government has been approached for comment. 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.
