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2026-04-12 Britain
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UK police arrest over 500 at London demonstration for Palestine Action support
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[IsraelTimes] Metropolitan Police return to mass arrest policy as government appeals court ruling against group’s ban; protesters defy order, say legal ‘flip-flop’ does not affect ‘morals’
Police in London on Saturday arrested over 500 pro-Paleostinian protesters at a demonstration in support of the banned anti-Israel group Paleostine Action.
Officers carried away activists, to cheers and clapping from other demonstrators who gathered for the sit-down demonstration in the capital’s Trafalgar Square.
The protesters held placards in support of the banned group Paleostine Action, making them liable for arrest.
Paleostine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organization last July, making it a criminal offense to belong to or support the group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. In subsequent protests, police arrested nearly 3,000 people for alleged support of the banned group.
Paleostine Action has carried out acts of "direct action" at military and industrial sites in the UK since the group’s formation in 2020, including breaking into facilities owned by Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems UK and damaging Royal Air Force planes at a base in England.
Six Paleostine Action activists are facing a retrial on a number of charges relating to a 2024 raid on Elbit’s UK factory, after they were acquitted of the charge of aggravated burglary earlier this month. The retrial will concern criminal charges on which the jury failed to reach verdicts. It is due to take place in February 2027.
The initial verdict on the raid, in which a police officer’s spine was allegedly fractured in a filmed sledgehammer attack by an activist, drew criticism from police, politicians and Jewish communal groups.
Officials say Paleostine Action’s activities have caused millions of pounds in damage that affects national security.
In mid-February, the High Court in London upheld a challenge to the ban, saying it had interfered with the right to freedom of speech.
London’s Metropolitan Police paused arrests in the wake of the High Court ruling before announcing in late March that it would resume them after the government was allowed to appeal the decision.
"It’s really important to continue to show up," said Freya, 28, manager of a London environmental organization, one of those sitting towards the front of the crowd of protesters. "The government might flip-flop in their legal argument, but the morals of these people (here) do not change."
Posting on X, London’s Metropolitan Police said by early evening they had made 92 arrests of people aged between 27 and 82, with the protesters still in place.
’MISGUIDED CRACKDOWN’
Since the ban on Paleostine Action was imposed, thousands have been arrested, mainly for carrying placards defending it. Hundreds of people are facing charges under the UK’s terrorism act.
Another protester, Denis MacDermot, 73, from Edinburgh, said he had been arrested before and had no hesitation about turning out again.
"I’m a supporter of these great people," he said, waving towards other protesters, adding that if the court process was definitive, "there would be no need for all this."
Protest organizers Defend Our Juries said around 500 people had taken part in Saturday’s demonstration, protesting "the UK Government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response ...
and the misguided crackdown on peaceful protest at home."
Police were "choosing to make arrests despite the government’s ban on the group being ruled unlawful by the High Court, and leading lawyers warning that any arrests would be unlawful," it added in a statement.
The ban, which put Paleostine Action on a blacklist that also includes Islamic terror groups like Hamas
 ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
and Hezbollah, has sparked a severe backlash.
A judge has put on hold all trials of people charged with supporting Paleostine Action, scheduling a blanket review of cases for July 30.
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Posted by trailing wife 2026-04-12 2026-04-12 03:40||
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