Scotland Yard said Sunday that nearly 900 people were arrested during a demonstration in central London supporting the proscribed group Palestine Action, in what officials called the biggest mass arrest in UK history.
Metropolitan Police said a total of 890 people were detained at the rally in Parliament Square, where about 1,500 people were estimated to have gathered. Of those detained, 857 were arrested for expressing support for a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act, and 33 were arrested for other offences, including 17 for assaults on police officers.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Claire Smart, who led the policing operation, thanked officers for their "professionalism and tireless work despite the level of abuse that they faced" and described the violence encountered as "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 many of those individuals had been arrested and that police had begun securing charges.
Another Met deputy assistant commissioner, Ade Adelekan, said the force had communicated that Palestine Action had been proscribed by the UK government in July and that membership of or support for the group is an offence. "I can be unequivocal, if you show support for Palestine Action — an offence under the Terrorism Act — you will be arrested," Adelekan said. He added that the force had the officer numbers, custody capacity and resources to process as many people as required.
Video and photographs from the rally showed officers moving through the crowd, escorting some demonstrators into police vans. Police said arrests began shortly after the protest started just before 1 p.m., and tensions were visible across the square as officers and some protesters exchanged heated words and, in places, physical confrontations. Authorities said some demonstrators were in tears while others chanted against the police.
Organisers of the demonstration, including the group Defend Our Juries, disputed the police account and said aggression had come from officers. Defend Our Juries described the rally as "the picture of peaceful protest" and dismissed claims that protesters had been violent as "frankly laughable."
Nearly 20,000 people took part in a separate Palestine Coalition march the same day, a demonstration the Met said contrasted starkly with the events in Parliament Square. Smart said people could express support for a cause without committing an offence under the Terrorism Act or descending into violence and disorder.
Police have pointed to the reason for the group's proscription: Palestine Action was banned in July after it claimed responsibility for an action in June that damaged two Voyager aircraft at RAF Brize Norton. The proscription makes it a criminal offence to be a member of or to express support for the group.
Several individual protesters spoke to reporters at the scene. Mike Higgins, 62, who is blind and uses a wheelchair, said he expected to be arrested and that he would continue to return to protests. Another demonstrator wore a satirical "Plasticine Action" T-shirt, referencing an earlier arrest of a protester mistakenly linked to the banned group. Franco Ferrer, 69, from north Wales, said police photographed him on arrival and that he had come because he believed the government's use of terror legislation to ban a protest group was an attack on free speech.
Met officers said the operation involved identifying and arresting those who had advertised intentions to break the law. Police acknowledged that some arrests on other offences had been made and that officers had faced assaults. Investigations and processing of charges were under way.
The mass arrests come amid heightened tensions over the Israel-Hamas war and a wider wave of protests across Britain. The Met has faced scrutiny in recent months over its handling of demonstrations, and senior officers framed the operation as enforcing the law while balancing the right to protest.
As arrests were processed, both supporters and critics of the policing operation voiced concerns about civil liberties and public safety. The Met said it would continue to review evidence and pursue charges where appropriate, while organisers and civil liberties groups signalled intentions to challenge what they described as heavy-handed tactics.