Met Police make nearly 500 arrests

Nearly 500 people have been arrested in central London during protests in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action, the Metropolitan Police has said.

Organisers Defend Our Juries said around 1,000 took part in demonstrations around Trafalgar Square backing Palestine Action – a group which was proscribed by the government in July making it illegal to show any support or affiliation to them.

The Met said 488 of the arrests were for supporting a proscribed organisation, with the the youngest person held being 18 and the oldest 89.

Demonstrations went ahead despite pleas from ministers and police who called for protests to be postponed following Thursday’s deadly synagogue attack in Manchester.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had urged protesters to “respect the grief of British Jews”, while Jewish figures also criticised the protests.

But Defend Our Juries member, Zoe Cohen, said as a Jewish person she is “grieving after the appalling synagogue attack” but also “grieving for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have been murdered, displaced and starved in Gaza”.

She added: “I think it’s possible for us to be compassionate and open our hearts to victims of multiple atrocities at one time.”

In the statement, released during the protest, she said “if today’s vigil had been cancelled we would have been letting terror win”.

Police said the bulk of those arrested were detained for gathering in Trafalgar Square; while six were arrested for unfurling a banner backing the proscribed group on Westminster Bridge earlier in the day.

The Met said each arrest took time because “many of those arrested won’t walk out of the square and need to be carried”.

This is a process which requires a minimum of five officers to do so safely, according to the Met.

Earlier on Saturday they said: “The majority of people still remaining in Trafalgar Square are onlookers who are not holding placards in support of Palestine Action.”

It added that a different protest group had gathered in Whitehall later that evening, “blocking the road before trying to march first towards Trafalgar Square, then Parliament Square”.

Public Order Act conditions were imposed on the Whitehall protest by police, which means protesters were made to leave the road and assemble on Richmond Terrace.

Police said a total of 492 people were arrested on Saturday – with four of the arrests for being drunk and disorderly, common assault, a public order offence and being wanted for an unrelated matter.

As of 22:00 BST on Saturday, 297 people were in custody, while the rest had been bailed.

During the silent vigil protesting the proscription at the central London landmark, the names of Palestinian children killed in the Israel-Hamas conflict are read out.

Ahead of the demonstrations, the Met Police said it would deploy 1,500 officers to Trafalgar Square to deal with the protesters.

A vicar, who had been sitting with her eyes closed and holding a poster saying “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”, was among those arrested and carried out by police, the PA news agency reports.

Some people in the crowd called police “shameful” and one said to officers “thanks for protecting us” as the woman was taken away.

On Friday, the Met wrote to Defend Our Juries to raise concerns about the amount of police resources the protest would divert at a time when “visible reassurance and protective security” was needed for communities.

But the group, which has led demonstrations against the ban on Palestine Action, defied these calls and went ahead with the protest.

In a statement beforehand, it said it hoped police “choose to prioritise protecting the public from real terrorism, and not waste resources on enforcing the absurd and ridiculous ban on Palestine Action”.

Minutes before the main event started in Trafalgar Square, Defend Our Juries managed to hold two banners over the north side of Westminster Bridge which read: “I oppose genocide” and “I support Palestine Action”.

The Met said officers removed the banners minutes later, and arrested those involved for supporting a proscribed organisation.

A spokesperson for human rights group Amnesty International UK, said arresting people for “peacefully sitting down and holding these signs” was not a job for the police.

“These arrests are in breach of the UK’s international human rights obligations and should not be happening”, they added.

A similar event held by Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine also took place where a crowd of around 100 pro-Palestinian supporters gathered outside Manchester Cathedral ahead of a march.

The Manchester Palestine Movement said the protest was to mark “two years of genocide in Gaza”.

Israel has regularly denied that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide, but last month the world’s leading association of genocide scholars said that the country’s conduct meets the legal definition as laid out in the UN convention on genocide.

The protests were held just days after two Jewish men – Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz – were killed after Jihad Al-Shamie drove a car into people outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester.

Al-Shamie then tried to force his way into the synagogue before being shot dead by armed police. Three others were injured in the attack.

Ahead of the demonstrations, the Community Security Trust charity – which provides security for the Jewish community – told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the protests were “phenomenally tone deaf”.

Dave Rich said: “For so many people who claim to care about human rights and care about freedoms, to be taking police resources away from protecting the rights and freedoms of Jewish people to live their lives and go to synagogue in safety, all to support a proscribed terrorist organisation, which is not the same thing as supporting the Palestinians.

“The two are not the same. And I think it’s remarkably self absorbed and insensitive to say the least.”

The group has urged the Met to “prioritise protecting the community, rather than arresting those peacefully holding signs” in support of Palestine Action.

The government proscribed Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation in July, after activists broke into an RAF base and damaged two military aircraft earlier in the year.

At various protests since then, hundreds have been arrested for showing support for the group, which has won permission to challenge the ban.