London police arrest 139 people as hundreds protest Palestine Action ban | Israeli-Palestinian conflict News

The protests in London and Edinburgh come days before the UK Supreme Court’s appeal challenging the group’s ban.

Police arrested at least 139 people after protesters defied a warning not to attend a rally in London against the ban on Palestine Action, which is classified as a “terrorist” organization under British law.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the US Embassy on Saturday to oppose the ban, which came into force in July last year under the government of then Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The protest comes ahead of a Supreme Court appeal on Wednesday challenging the campaign group’s ban.

In a post on “The majority of arrests took place for expressing support for a banned organization,” the statement said.

In response to the police statement, Labor MP John McDonnell posted on

He added that he believed the government “made the wrong decision in banning Palestine Action as a terrorist organization.”

Saturday’s rally is the first mass protest against the ban since Prime Minister Andy Burnham took office in July.

The decision to designate the group as a “terrorist” organization has sparked an outcry in some sections of British society, with critics saying it is part of a wider crackdown aimed at silencing pro-Palestinian voices. The ban means Palestine Action has been added to a list of banned organizations that also includes Al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).

UK ‘appeases Trump and Israeli arms companies’

Protesters also gathered outside the US consulate in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital. No arrests have been reported there.

Protesters could be seen in London and Edinburgh holding signs reading “I oppose genocide. I support Palestinian action.”

Defend Our Juries, which organized the protests, said Saturday’s arrests brought the total number of people detained for defying the ban on Palestinian action since July 2025 to more than 4,000.

“It is truly dystopian that there have been more than 4,000 arrests under anti-terrorism laws for peaceful vigils silently expressing opposition to the genocide and support for the protest group Palestine Action,” said a spokesperson for the group, as reported by the British news agency Press Association.

“The ban on Palestine Action was straight out of US President Donald Trump’s playbook, so it is fitting that this important step was taken on Halloween and in front of the US Embassy,” the spokesperson added, saying the ban was aimed at the British government to “appease Trump and the Israeli arms companies that Palestine Action has disrupted, not any terrorist threat.”

Felix Jakens, head of communications and campaigns at Amnesty International UK, also called on the government to overturn the ban on Palestine Action.

“The sight once again of grandparents, teenagers and everyone else being carted off in police vans to peacefully hold signs is a shameful attack on free speech,” Jakens said in response to Saturday’s arrests.

“It is high time for the government to abandon the ban on Palestinian action and reform our laws so that communities have more power to protest on the issues they care about, not less. »