London protests live updates: Police arrest 150 people as hundreds rally in support of Palestine Action

Thousands of people have joined a pro-Palestine solidarity march in London today, away from scenes of arrest in Parliament Square.

Organisers from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign estimated hundreds of thousands of people were in attendance for the march, which went from Russel Square to Downing Street.

Protesters were marching against Israel’s war on Gaza as the Strip faces a worsening starvation crisis.

Chants of “Gaza must have food and water, no more killing, no more slaughter” and “free Palestine” could be heard among the voices of crowds that have come from all over the UK to demand action from the UK government.

Signs reading “shame shame shame UK complicit”, “end the siege”, and “stop starving Gaza” can be seen among the countless Palestinian flags flying above the demonstrators marching from Russell Square to Downing Street.

Police officers, meanwhile, lined the route.

Dozens of police officers lined up ahead of the Lift the Ban protest, with demonstrators holding up signs in support of proscribed group Palestine Action.

The Metropolitan Police said 150 people had been arrested at the protest in support of Palestine Action in Parliament Square.

It said many of the people remaining in the square were onlookers or members of the media, but officers were still making further arrests.

In a post on X, the forces said: “Officers are steadily working through the crowd making further arrests”.

The Metropolitan Police have said that they will arrest “anyone expressing support for Palestine Action”.

In a post to X, the force said that there were “significant resources deployed to this operation”.

It comes after the Home Office said that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was “based on strong security advice and the unanimous recommendation by the expert cross-government Proscription Review Group”.

A spokesperson said: “It also followed an assessment from the Joint Terrorism Assessment Centre that Palestine Action prepares for terrorism, as well as worrying information referencing plans and ideas for further attacks, the details of which cannot yet be publicly reported due to ongoing legal proceedings.”

Co-founder of Palestine Action Huda Ammori has previously criticised the home secretary for referring to “secret evidence” which the group has been unable to see or rebut.

Ahead of today’s demonstration against the ban of Palestine Action, the Home Office said that the group’s proscription as a terror organisation would not affect “the freedom to protest on Palestinian rights”.

A Home Office spokesperson said on Saturday: “The home secretary has been clear that the proscription of Palestine Action is not about Palestine, nor does it affect the freedom to protest on Palestinian rights.

“It only applies to the specific and narrow organisation whose activities do not reflect or represent the thousands of people across the country who continue to exercise their fundamental rights to protest on different issues.

“Freedom to protest is a cornerstone of our democracy and we protect it fiercely”.

Palestine Action is a direct action group that was banned by the Home Office after several of its members broke into an Oxfordshire RAF base to spray-paint military planes.

Formed in 2020, Palestine Action has conducted a series of direct action protests over the past five years, largely against arms manufacturers operating in the UK and selling weapons to Israel.

Unveiling the intention to ban the group following the incident on June 23, Ms Cooper said it was the latest in a “long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action”.

The crowd, who gathered in Westminster at 1pm, could be seen writing “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action” on white placards, with the vast majority remaining silent.

Several demonstrators carrying placards that read “Palestine Action terrorises Britain while Hamas hides in hospitals, schools and mosques”, briefly walked along the crowd before being led away by Metropolitan Police officers.

Other clusters of protesters who were not holding placards gathered around the Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela statues in the square singing pro-Palestinian chants.

The officers lifted the protesters – some sitting and some lying flat – off the ground before escorting them away.

Onlookers applauded the protesters and shouted “Shame on you” at the police making arrests.

Bianca Jagger was among the demonstrators at Parliament Square, holding a sign quoting the words of UN human rights chief Volker Turk.

Mr Turk has criticised the ban, saying that it was at odds with international human rights law.

Ms Jagger wrote in The Independent that she would be at the demonstration “to demand that the UK government uphold our right to freedom of speech and to denounce the genocide that the Israeli government is perpetrating in Gaza against the Palestinian people”.

People protesting against Palestine Action’s terror ban take part in a mass action in Parliament Square, Westminster, central London.