UK Police Crack Down on Pro-Palestinian Protesters with 900 Arrests
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – British authorities have arrested almost 900 demonstrators during mass rallies in support of Palestine Action, a movement banned under the UK’s terrorism laws for its opposition to Israeli arms suppliers.
The arrests in London highlight an iron-fist response against protesters, whom organizers described as peaceful and diverse, including clergy, war veterans, and descendants of Holocaust survivors. Witnesses said police wielded batons and violently forced their way through crowds, leaving several demonstrators injured and bloodied.
Amnesty International UK rejected police claims of “coordinated violence,” calling the crackdown a “shocking demonstration” of how broad terrorism laws are being abused to silence dissent. Its observers reported that officers aggressively shoved people, drew batons, and forcibly dragged protesters into vans.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Claire Smart insisted that officers had faced “coordinated violence,” but her claims were directly challenged by rights groups and witnesses.
Smaller rallies were also held in Belfast and Edinburgh, where elderly protesters were charged under “terror” offences.
The wave of protests comes as outrage grows over the UK government’s move to outlaw Palestine Action, which has long targeted arms factories and facilities complicit in exporting weapons to the Zionist regime. The group was banned after it admitted spraying red paint on two military aircraft linked to Israel operations. Supporting or joining the movement now carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years.
UN human rights experts earlier warned that branding such acts of protest as “terrorism” is unjustified, stressing that damaging property in protest cannot be equated with violence against people. The Home Office, meanwhile, is appealing a court decision allowing Palestine Action’s cofounder Huda Ammori to challenge the ban, which she argues criminalizes political dissent.
The protests coincided with Israel’s escalating massacre in Gaza, where UN officials and global rights organizations have accused the regime of committing genocide. Reports in British media revealed that UK forces have even deployed surveillance drones over Gaza in support of Israeli operations, deepening public anger at Britain’s complicity in war crimes.
