On Saturday, 14 political activists were taken into custody by Metropolitan Police officers in central London following a provocative demonstration marking the first anniversary of the official ban of pro-Palestinian advocacy group Palestine Action. The protest, organized by the grassroots civil disobedience network Defend Our Juries, was staged directly outside New Scotland Yard — the Metropolitan Police’s central headquarters — where demonstrators distributed public leaflets that actively called on serving police officers to become members of the now-proscribed Palestine Action.
Unlike previous police responses to similar demonstrations by Defend Our Juries, which primarily relied on Section 13 of the UK Terrorism Act (an offense covering the display of symbols that raise reasonable suspicion of support for a banned group), Saturday’s arrests were carried out under the more severe Section 12 of the legislation. This section explicitly criminalizes any act that invites public support for a proscribed organization, and carries a maximum custodial sentence of 14 years behind bars. This shift in policing marks a clear escalation of official crackdowns on the year-long campaign against the ban of Palestine Action.
Among those detained was 83-year-old Reverend Sue Parfitt, an Anglican priest and decades-long peace campaigner who has been a consistent fixture in UK anti-war and pro-Palestine movements.
Defend Our Juries confirmed the protest was held to also mark 12 months since the group launched its “Saving Lives is Not Terrorism” campaign, a direct challenge to the UK government’s 2024 ban on Palestine Action. Since the campaign launched, the group reports that more than 3,500 activists have been arrested under counter-terrorism legislation for participating in acts of civil disobedience supporting the proscribed group.
In an official statement following the arrests, a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries framed the invitation to police officers as a deliberate, if lighthearted, act of provocation — one that authorities responded to with disproportionate force. “It may seem tongue-in-cheek to invite the police to join Palestine Action, but the police haven’t seen the funny side. They have arrested everyone under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act. Fourteen years in prison is no joke,” the spokesperson said.
The group called on British law enforcement to redirect its resources away from targeting peaceful pro-Palestine protesters, and instead prioritize investigating the UK operations of Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense manufacturer that Defend Our Juries identifies as a key drone supplier to the Israeli military.
“The ongoing attempt to silence peaceful opposition to genocide will continue to backfire,” the spokesperson added. “Britain is a country full of decent people, appalled by Israel’s crimes against humanity. The more the Labour government uses repression to mask its complicity, the faster the resistance movement grows.”
Saturday’s demonstration is the latest action in a sustained 12-month campaign by Defend Our Juries, which has organized repeated acts of public civil disobedience to challenge the ban on Palestine Action, encouraging supporters to openly defy the legislation and accept arrest as part of their protest. At the time of this report, the Metropolitan Police has not issued any official statement in response to requests for comment on the arrests.