London’s Metropolitan Police began detaining people shortly after hundreds started a lunchtime “mass action” outside the US Embassy, an AFP reporter witnessed.
The force said in an evening update that officers were “continuing to make arrests” as they confirmed that 139 had already been detained.
Police have arrested more than 4,000 people on suspicion of showing support for Palestine Action, according to campaigners, after the British government outlawed it under anti-terror laws in July 2025.
Many of those arrested, including senior citizens and Holocaust survivors, have displayed signs at rallies reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
In July, hearings related to more than 2,000 of those cases were postponed until later this year.
“It is truly dystopian that there have now been over 4,000 arrests under terror laws for peaceful vigils,” Protest organisers Defend Our Juries said in a statement.
The ban puts the group on a blacklist that also includes Palestinian militants Hamas and the Lebanese Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.
It made membership of, or support for, Palestine Action a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The group’s co-founder Huda Ammori has legally challenged the ban, arguing it was “disproportionate” and infringed human rights.
The Supreme Court is set to hold a two-day hearing on the high-profile case from Wednesday, after the Court of Appeal in June ruled in the government’s favour.
Saturday’s London protesters held banners bearing slogans such as “How is trying to stop a genocide a crime?” and “We are protesters, not terrorists.”
Set up in 2020, Palestine Action’s stated goal on its website — blocked to UK internet users — is to end “global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”. (AFP)
