LONDON: British prime minister Keir Starmer faces mounting criticism after hundreds of people were detained during a demonstration in Parliament Square in London at the weekend against the government’s decision to ban Palestine Action.
The Metropolitan Police said officers arrested 532 people on Saturday, 522 of them for displaying items in support of the proscribed group. A breakdown of the arrest figures released on Sunday revealed that 348 of those apprehended were age 50 or over, The Independent newspaper reported.
The protest, organized by Defend Our Juries, an organization that “supports collective action to expose this corruption of democracy and the rule of law,” took place after ministers warned they would take action against anyone who showed public support for Palestine Action, which was designated a terrorist organization last month.
Victims minister Alex Davies-Jones defended the crackdown, saying: “The right to peacefully protest in this country is a cornerstone of our democracy, and of course we respect that. But with regards to Palestine Action, they are a proscribed terrorist organization and their actions have not been peaceful.
“They have violently carried out criminal damage to RAF aircraft. We have credible reports of them targeting Jewish-owned businesses here in the United Kingdom, and there are other reasons which we can’t disclose because of national security.
“But they are a proscribed terrorist organization and anyone showing support for that terrorist organization will feel the full force of the law.”
The prime minister’s office also defended the proscription, saying it followed “strong security advice” and citing attacks said to be linked to the group involving violence, injury and criminal damage.
Officials said the UK’s Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre had linked the group to three separate acts of terrorism.
However, the move drew sharp criticism from across the political spectrum.
Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, a member of Starmer’s ruling Labour Party and of the House of Lords, warned that the ban risked deepening social divisions.
“The proscription of Palestine Action is in danger of becoming a mistake of poll tax proportions,” she told The Independent, referring to a highly unpopular taxation policy of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s government that led to violent protests in the early 1990s across the UK.
“The courts have already found an arguable case that it breaches fundamental rights and more, not less, people are coming out to protest against both atrocities in Gaza and inappropriate use of terror laws at home.
“The notable presence of so many older people highlights the strength of genuine feeling. Criminal damage at air force bases can be prosecuted, but sweeping guilt by association only exacerbates community tensions and creates a bigger headache for the police.”
Former Labour cabinet minister Peter Hain described the arrests as “madness,” and said Palestine Action was “not equivalent” to terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda or Daesh, adding that this was why he had voted against its ban.
Independent MP Diane Abbott said: “The government is in danger of making itself look both draconian and foolish.”
Left-wing Labour MP Nadia Whittome, who also opposed the ban, accused ministers of “conflating protest with terrorism.” In a message posted on social media platform X, she said: “Last month, I warned that proscribing Palestine Action would result in the mass criminalization of people who are not even members of the group. Now, more than 500 people have been arrested. I voted against the proscription; we shouldn’t be conflating protest with terrorism.”
Former chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal warned that the mass arrests would clog the justice system: “These would probably be jury trials as each of them would be advised to plead not guilty and expect a trial in 2027 at the earliest. I also suspect that no jury would convict anyhow.”
Amnesty International described the level of policing as “disproportionate to the point of absurdity.”
Its chief executive, Sacha Deshmukh, said: “Peaceful protest is a fundamental right. People are understandably outraged by the ongoing genocide being committed in Gaza and are entitled under international human rights law to express their horror.
“The protesters in Parliament Square were not inciting violence and it is entirely disproportionate, to the point of absurdity, to be treating them as terrorists. We have long criticized UK terrorism law for being excessively broad and vaguely worded, and a threat to freedom of expression. These arrests demonstrate that our concerns were justified.”
Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori said the protest would “go down in our country’s history as a momentous act of collective defiance of an unprecedented attack on our fundamental freedoms.”
She argued that the large number of people granted street bail showed the law was “unenforceable.” Street bail is a process under which arrested individuals can be granted bail before they are taken to a police station.
Under the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000, membership of or support for a proscribed organization carries a maximum prison term of 14 years. In some cases, prosecutions require approval from both the Crown Prosecution Service and the Attorney General.
