London — Metropolitan Police said 890 people were arrested at a demonstration in central London on Saturday that protested the government’s July ban on the group Palestine Action, with the majority detained under the Terrorism Act.
Police said 857 arrests were for showing support for the proscribed group and 33 were for other offences, including 17 arrests for assaults on police officers. The number of arrests rose from 425 announced Saturday, the force said.
Hundreds of people gathered in central London at about 1300 BST and were reported to have been writing messages in support of Palestine Action on placards when officers began making arrests shortly afterwards. The Met said most people were taken to custody because they refused to provide their details or were found to have been on bail.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Claire Smart described the operation as encountering organised violence. "The violence we encountered during the operation was coordinated and carried out by a group of people, many wearing masks to conceal their identity, intent on creating as much disorder as possible," she said.
Organisers from Defend Our Juries, which called the rally, disputed the police account. The group said officers had "violently assault[ed] peaceful protesters including the elderly, in order to try and arrest over a thousand people for holding cardboard signs" and argued the Palestine Action ban was "impossible to enforce and a preposterous waste of resources."
The government proscribed Palestine Action under anti‑terrorism legislation in July, making membership of or support for the group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. The Metropolitan Police invoked those powers at Saturday’s protest, citing support for a proscribed organisation as the basis for the large number of arrests.
The force said the operation involved arrests both for alleged support of the banned group and for a range of other offences observed during the demonstration. It said a "significant" number of arrests followed incidents when the protest turned violent.
The mass arrests and the use of the Terrorism Act to detain people at a public protest have drawn immediate contention between police and organisers. Police and organisers offered sharply different accounts of the behaviour of protesters and officers on the streets of central London.
The Metropolitan Police said persons arrested were being processed through custody suites and that investigations into offences committed during the operation would continue. Defend Our Juries said it would press complaints about the policing of the event. The situation remains under review as authorities assess the events and any further legal action.