{"id":603590,"date":"2025-11-30T15:37:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T15:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/603590\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T15:37:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T15:37:31","slug":"police-explain-30-arrests-for-holding-up-signs-in-bristol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/603590\/","title":{"rendered":"Police explain 30 arrests for holding up signs in Bristol"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Officers attempted to engage with protesters to explain that it was a criminal offence”\"PolicePolice arrest protesters on College Green in Bristol on Saturday, November 29, 2025, for writing placards saying: ‘I oppose genocide – I support Palestine Action'(Image: Paul Gillis\/Bristol Post)<\/p>\n

Police in Bristol who arrested 30 people for silently holding up signs<\/a> said they tried to explain to them before they arrested them that what the sign said constituted a criminal offence. The mass arrest on College Green took more than three hours on Saturday afternoon as police officers arrested one protester after another and led or carried them away to waiting police vans.<\/p>\n

The protest was part of a national campaign to challenge the Government\u2019s decision<\/a> back in June to proscribe the direct action protest group Palestine Action. The protesters lined up and wrote on signs the words: \u201cI oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action\u2019.<\/p>\n

Many of those being arrested told officers that the police themselves were breaking the law for being complicit in genocide in relation to Israel\u2019s military action in Gaza.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset police said: \u201cOfficers attempted to engage with protesters to explain that it was a criminal offence to express support for the Palestine Action group following its proscription by the government earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cA total of 30 people were subsequently arrested under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of displaying articles in support of a proscribed organisation. One woman was arrested on suspicion of failing to provide details under the Police Reform Act 2002,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Bristol city centre mass protest sees 31 arrested<\/a>READ MORE: Live: Huge Palestine Action protest in Bristol city centre<\/a><\/p>\n

Police chiefs on the ground initially said 29 were arrested for displaying the signs<\/a> and two were arrested for other offences, but police later clarified that 30 were arrested for holding the signs.<\/p>\n

The event saw around 100 people gather to support those taking part in the illegal placard protest, and each time an arrest was made they rang a bell and cheered as the protester was led away.<\/p>\n

Those arrested included Sir Jonathon Porritt, the environmentalist and author<\/a> who was Prince Charles\u2019 advisor on the environment for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n

Police had prepared for more making the illegal signs – no fewer than 16 police vans were parked up around the back of College Green if needed.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice vans lined up behind College Green as Avon and Somerset Police prepare for a Defend Our Juries mass arrest protest on Saturday, November 29(Image: PAUL GILLIS \/ Reach Plc)<\/p>\n

Insp Ben Spence said: \u201cWhile we will always work to enable peaceful and lawful protest, we have always made it clear that we will intervene where criminal offences are committed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe protest has now safely concluded and the police operation has been stood down. I\u2019d like to thank everyone for their understanding,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Bristol protest was organised by the campaign group Defend Our Juries, and happened simultaneously with protests in Exeter – although no arrests were made there – and other towns and cities across the UK, including Birmingham, Sheffield, Edinburgh and Cardiff.<\/p>\n

Defend Our Juries have mounted a legal challenge to the UK Government\u2019s decision to proscribe Palestine Action, which is ongoing at the Court of Appeal in London last week and next.<\/p>\n

\"AA man silently prays while he waits to be arrested for displaying a sign in support of proscribed direct action protest group Palestine Action, on College Green, Bristol, on Saturday November 29, 2025(Image: PAUL GILLIS \/ Reach Plc)<\/p>\n

The campaign group described the action to provoke a mass arrest as the \u2018most widespread wave of civil resistance in modern UK history\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThis historic wave of action has seen people of courage and conscience taking action to resist the government\u2019s clampdown on our fundamental rights to protest and free speech,\u201d said a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the face of our government\u2019s steadfast support for Israel as it carried out war crimes, collective punishment and genocide, Palestine Action were the one group who made a material impact by hitting the profits of companies supplying hardware to Israel\u2019s killing machine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn court this week the government has had to try and defend the proportionality of the ban. Yet it hasn\u2019t been able to offer any argument that proscription was in the public interest. Repeated statements by government barristers make it clear that it was simply to protect the profits of arms companies.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice arrest protesters on College Green in Bristol on Saturday, November 29, 2025, for writing placards saying: ‘I oppose genocide – I support Palestine Action'(Image: Paul Gillis\/Bristol Post)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ban was never in the public interest as Palestine Action never posed any threat to the public. Conflating property damage with terrorism, as the Terrorism Act 2000 does, is an insult to everyone who has lost loved ones through acts of genuine terror,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proscription of Palestine Action was an act of authoritarian overreach whose only purpose was to protect Israel, the arms companies supplying its genocide, and the government ministers who have been so shamefully complicit in that genocide,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Officers attempted to engage with protesters to explain that it was a criminal offence”Police arrest protesters on College…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[9312,381,799,748,188,393,4884,837,1815,285,9729,2832,13466,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-603590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-avon-and-somerset-constabulary","9":"tag-bristol","10":"tag-bristol-city-centre","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-crime","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-israel-hamas-war","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-prince-charles","19":"tag-prince-of-wales","20":"tag-terrorism","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115639396802091302","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603590","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=603590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}