325 Arrested at Palestine Action Protest Outside US Embassy in London as Total Passes 4,000

London Palestine Action arrests rose to 325 after a protest outside the United States Embassy in London on Saturday, 1 November, the Metropolitan Police said in an update on Sunday, taking the total number of people detained in connection with the banned group past 4,000 since it was proscribed in July 2025.

FAKTA

• The Metropolitan Police said on Sunday that 325 people were arrested at Saturday’s protest outside the US Embassy in Nine Elms, south-west London.
• Of those arrested, 320 were detained for expressing support for a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act, the police said.
• The protest was organised by Defend Our Juries and came days before a Supreme Court hearing on the ban, due to begin on Wednesday, 4 November.
• Campaigners say more than 4,000 people have now been arrested in connection with the group since it was proscribed in July 2025.
• A smaller parallel protest was held outside the US Consulate in Edinburgh on Saturday, where no arrests were made at the time.

London Palestine Action Arrests: What Happened on Saturday

Hundreds of people gathered outside the US Embassy in Nine Elms on Saturday, many holding signs reading: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” Police made arrests into the evening, taking people to police vans for transfer, to applause from many protesters, some of whom chanted: “Free, free Palestine.” In some cases, officers carried demonstrators who refused to walk.

Police had put the arrest figure at 139 on Saturday evening. The Sunday update raised the total to 325, with the vast majority detained for expressing support for a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act. Expressing support for Palestine Action is an offence under the Act since the group was proscribed, and membership of, or support for, a proscribed group can carry a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

The Ban and the Supreme Court Hearing

Palestine Action was proscribed in July 2025 under anti-terror legislation. The United States also designated the group as a terrorist organisation in August. The UK Supreme Court is due to hold a two-day hearing from Wednesday on the government’s decision to outlaw the group, after the group’s co-founder was granted permission to appeal. The Home Office has said it will robustly defend against the appeal.

The case has drawn wide attention because of the scale of enforcement since the ban. Defend Our Juries, which has co-ordinated a series of protests against the ban, said the number of people detained this weekend took the total over 4,000 since July 2025, calling the figure “truly dystopian”. According to Home Office figures seen by the BBC, 3,630 arrests were made in the year ending June 2026; together with 134 people arrested outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court earlier this year and Saturday’s 325, the total reaches 4,089.

Reactions to the Arrests

Retired lawyer Charles Allison, 75, who travelled from Cumbria to take part, was taken by police in the afternoon. He told the BBC he feared for people’s civil liberties, which he said were “being devalued and watered down”, and said he hoped the Supreme Court justices would take a long-term view and decide the proscription was unlawful, as he believed it was.

Amnesty International UK has criticised the arrests and called for the government to drop the proscription of Palestine Action. Defend Our Juries called the arrests “unjust” and an assault on free speech.

What Happens Next

The Supreme Court hearing on the ban begins on Wednesday, 4 November, and runs for two days. In Edinburgh, Police Scotland said enquiries were ongoing to identify people seen wearing t-shirts and holding banners showing support for a proscribed organisation, adding that evidence was being reviewed and further action would be taken as appropriate.

For more news from Europe, see Watan News’s Europe coverage.

Reporting: BBC and AFP.