LONDON (AP) — London police arrested more than 200 people on Saturday during a protest against a ban on the group Palestine Action that the government has labeled a terrorist organization. The Metropolitan Police said they detained 212 protesters between the ages of 27 and 82 for supporting the group, turning Trafalgar Square into another stage where the state’s legal machinery met public dissent with handcuffs.
Who the State Targets
Hundreds gathered in Trafalgar Square to show their support for the group, with some holding signs reading, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” That message, plain and direct, was met by a police operation that had already announced its intentions. Police had warned in advance of the protest organized by the group Defend Our Juries that it would make arrests. The apparatus did not wait to hear the crowd out; it arrived with the expectation of detention.
Protesters yelled “shame on you” at police carrying away protesters and mocked them for arresting the elderly. “Yeah, she looks like a terrorist, doesn’t she mate?” a woman yelled as police led a protester with a walking stick to a police van. The scene laid out the hierarchy in full view: people in the square, including older protesters, being hauled off by the force empowered to define dissent as criminal support.
The Ban and the Courtroom Trap
Britain’s High Court ruled in February that the government’s decision to outlaw the protest group as a terrorist organization was unlawful, but it kept the ban in place while the government appeals. That legal contradiction sits at the center of the crackdown: a court has already said the government’s decision was unlawful, yet the ban remains active while the state continues its appeal. The result is a protest movement trapped inside a legal maze built and maintained by the same institutions claiming to protect order.
The government has labeled Palestine Action a terrorist organization, and the police acted accordingly on Saturday. The ruling did not end the ban. It only exposed how the machinery of prohibition can keep grinding even after a court has questioned its legitimacy. For the people in Trafalgar Square, the practical meaning was simple: the state still had the power to arrest them.
What People Did Anyway
Musician Robert Del Naja of the trip hop group Massive Attack said he held a sign in support of the group despite the possibility that an arrest could jeopardize his ability to travel. “I thought this is ridiculous and then the police making that U-turn to arrest people again, I thought that is even more ridiculous,” he said. “So I’m going to hold a sign today.”
His words captured the absurdity of the spectacle: a public protest against a ban, a court ruling calling the ban unlawful, and police still carrying out arrests under the same ban while the government appeals. The threat hanging over him was not only arrest but the wider reach of state power into movement, mobility, and daily life.
The protest was organized by Defend Our Juries, and the crowd that gathered in Trafalgar Square made visible the gap between official labels and public sentiment. Some held signs, some shouted at police, and some watched as officers carried away protesters. The state’s answer was not dialogue but detention.
Metropolitan Police said they had detained 212 protesters between the ages of 27 and 82. That number, and the ages attached to it, show who gets swept up when the state decides a protest has crossed its line: not just organizers or militants, but ordinary people, including the elderly, standing in a square with signs and slogans while the police do the sorting.