LONDON (Dispatches) – Nearly 900 people were arrested over the weekend during protests against the UK government’s proscription of the direct action group Palestine Action, police said on Sunday.
The Metropolitan Police reported that 857 individuals were detained under the Terrorism Act 2000 for allegedly supporting a proscribed organization during Saturday’s demonstration in Westminster. An additional 33 people were arrested for other offences, including assaults on officers.
Hundreds gathered in Parliament Square, holding signs reading “I support Palestine Action” and waving Palestinian flags. Protesters chanted slogans such as “free Palestine” as police arrested them, often physically carrying individuals to waiting vans. Some demonstrators urged officers not to follow orders to detain them.
Among those arrested were elderly protesters and families of Holocaust survivors, many sitting quietly in the square. Steve Masters, a British army veteran who served 19 years in the Royal Air Force, was arrested while holding a sign in support of Palestine Action and was carried away in a wheelchair. Masters said he joined the protest in response to the “depressing scenes unfolding in Gaza,” accusing the UK government of complicity in what he described as genocide.
Before the protest began, organizers distributed legal advice, pens, and cardboard to participants. Officers from the City of London Police, Wales Police, and Suffolk Police assisted the Metropolitan Police during the operation.
Defend Our Juries (DOJ), a campaign group opposing the proscription of Palestine Action, encouraged demonstrators to withhold personal information from police to overwhelm the processing system at custody suites. 
The group had planned a press conference to announce that around 1,500 people intended to risk arrest under the Terrorism Act by publicly opposing the proscription. However, the event was postponed after seven of DOJ’s key speakers, including former government lawyer Tim Crosland, were arrested under the same legislation.
DOJ reported that detainees were held beyond the 24-hour custody limit and had their homes searched. The Home Office recently secured a legal ruling allowing it to challenge a judicial review of the proscription decision, which had been scheduled for November.
The arrests come amid heightened tensions over the UK government’s use of anti-terrorism legislation to suppress pro-Palestinian activism, raising concerns among rights groups about freedom of expression and peaceful protest.