London’s Metropolitan Police said 55 individuals were arrested on Saturday during a rally for the banned Palestine Action group outside Britain’s Parliament.
The crowd in Parliament Square had been waving placards supporting the group that was banned this month under anti-terrorism legislation, the force said in a post on X.
People from the rally, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, were taken away in police vans.
British lawmakers proscribed the group earlier this month after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
Membership of Palestine Action now carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years.
The group has called the decision “authoritarian”, and a challenge to the ban will be heard at London’s High Court on Monday.
Protests Target Israel-Linked Firms
Palestine Action is among groups that have regularly targeted defence firms and other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza.
Police have arrested scores of the group’s supporters at rallies across Britain since the ban came in.
Earlier on July 12, the UK police, in a major crackdown, detained several supporters of the proscribed pro-Palestinian group.
Police said they had arrested at least 41 people in London and 16 others in Manchester for showing support for the group Palestine Action.
In the previous week, police arrested 29 people after a similar protest in London.
The International Court of Justice in the Hague is hearing a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza war, which began after the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023. Israel has repeatedly denied committing abuses.
The UK government’s decision to classify Palestine Action as a terrorist group places it in the same category as Hamas, al-Qaeda and ISIS. Membership now carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years.
Opponents of the ban say using anti-terrorism laws is inappropriate against a group accused mainly of damaging property rather than harming people, although some members have in the past been charged with violence in clashes with police.
(With inputs from Reuters)
