Overview
- Metropolitan Police detained 523 people on Saturday at a silent sit-in in Trafalgar Square, saying they showed support for a banned organization.
- The force said Palestine Action remains a proscribed group and that support for it is a criminal offense while the ban stays in place during a government appeal.
- In February, the High Court ruled the proscription unlawful, yet ministers appealed, which keeps the designation active until judges decide the case.
- Amnesty International condemned the arrests as an attack on civil liberties, saying police were criminalising dissent under terrorism powers.
- Palestine Action targets arms facilities linked to Israel’s war in Gaza, including an RAF base incident that preceded its July 2025 ban, and related protests have led to nearly 3,000 arrests across the UK.