{"id":1120571,"date":"2026-07-30T18:15:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T18:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1120571\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T18:15:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T18:15:26","slug":"police-arrest-dozens-at-london-rally-supporting-palestine-action-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1120571\/","title":{"rendered":"Police arrest dozens at London rally supporting Palestine Action | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"

British police have arrested 77 people as crowds gathered outside a London court to declare support for Palestine Action<\/a>, which is proscribed as a \u201cterrorist\u201d organisation in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

The rally outside Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court on Thursday was organised by the Defend Our Juries activist group to picket the start of hearings against the first of thousands of people charged with voicing support for Palestine Action.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

Defend Our Juries says it is seeking to safeguard the legal process in the UK. Critics accuse the government of undermining civil liberties in an attempt to shield Israel from the consequences of the genocidal war it launched in Gaza almost three years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cExpressing support for Palestine Action is an offence under the Terrorism Act. Officers have begun making arrests,\u201d London\u2019s Metropolitan Police said in a post on X.<\/p>\n

In pictures posted online, dozens of people could be seen outside the court in central London.<\/p>\n

In a post on X, Defend Our Juries said \u201chundreds are outside Westminster Magistrates today to say this is not terrorism\u201d. The number of attendees has not been confirmed.<\/p>\n

Several protesters waved Palestinian flags in support of those in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, which is also experiencing a surge in violence<\/a> by Israelis from illegal settlements under the army\u2019s protection.<\/p>\n

Rights groups say the rapid increase in settler violence there is a direct result of the Israeli government\u2019s policy.<\/p>\n

The demonstration in London is the first in support of Palestine Action since Andy Burnham became prime minister earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s assault on Gaza was not a priority for the government during Keir Starmer\u2019s tenure, and critics have accused his administration of being complicit.<\/p>\n

Since launching his campaign to become prime minister, Burnham has attempted to reframe the Labour Party\u2019s foreign policy. Before taking office, he conceded that his party \u201cdidn\u2019t get it right\u201d on Gaza<\/a> and said he was \u201csorry\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, rights groups say his apology is meaningless unless it is backed by action.<\/p>\n

Burnham has already granted the United States permission to use some UK military bases to carry out \u201cdefensive\u201d strikes against Iran, a conflict that began on February 28 and which several legal experts have described as illegal.<\/p>\n

\"DemonstratorsDemonstrators sit outside Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court in London as a plea hearing for 25 people accused of showing support for Palestine Action takes place, on July 30, 2026 [Alberto Pezzali\/AP Photo]<\/p>\n

The leader of the UK Green Party, Zack Polanski, has meanwhile demanded that Burnham reverse Palestine Action\u2019s proscription.<\/p>\n

It is within the prime minister\u2019s power \u201cto scrap this proscription and end these dystopian scenes for good\u201d, Polanski said in a post on X. \u201cThere is simply no excuse in a democracy for a crackdown in support for protest groups like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polanski is the Greens\u2019 first Jewish leader and has accused the right-wing press of erasing his religious identity because of his support for Palestine and opposition to Israel\u2019s genocide.<\/p>\n

In a post on X, Defend Our Juries sarcastically criticised the UK\u2019s terrorism laws, which outlaw expressing support for Palestine Action.<\/p>\n

\u201cBritain today: An elderly woman in a wheelchair is escorted away by the police and risks up to 14 years in prison for supporting terrorism since the Home Secretary proscribed a protest group in 2025. Her crime? She said: \u2018I support Palestine Action and I encourage you to join\u2019,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

New appeal given green light<\/p>\n

Later on Thursday, it was reported that the UK\u2019s \u200cSupreme Court has said it will \u2060hear another \u2060appeal against the \u201cterrorist\u201d designation imposed on Palestine Action.<\/p>\n

A lower court ruling in June found that the government\u2019s decision to ban the group was lawful, citing its \u201csupport for violence\u201d. The High Court had ruled in February that the ban unlawfully interfered with freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

Huda Ammori, who cofounded Palestine Action \u200cin 2020 and brought the legal challenge against proscription, was granted permission to appeal against that decision on Wednesday, the Supreme Court\u2019s website showed.<\/p>\n

She said in a statement: \u201cWe will continue to fight this proscription all the way to the Supreme Court and, if necessary, to \u2060the European Court of Human \u2060Rights to overturn what has become one of the most extreme attacks on free speech and the right to protest in modern British history.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British police have arrested 77 people as crowds gathered outside a London court to declare support for Palestine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1120572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,299,2194,4884,4582,774,837,7424,839,12,1144,1814,285,2579,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":["post-1120571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-europe","tag-gaza","tag-great-britain","tag-human-rights","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-israel-palestine-conflict","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-palestine","tag-politics","tag-protests","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117010297743318375","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1120571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1120572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1120571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1120571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1120571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}