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LAST UPDATE | 7 Sep
ALMOST 900 PEOPLE were arrested in London yesterday during a tense protest in support of the Palestine Action group, which has been banned under UK terror laws.
The Metropolitan Police condemned the “intolerable” abuse it claims its officers suffered while arresting some 425 people protesting against the banning of Palestine Action as a terror group.
However, the organiser of the protest, Defend Our Juries (DOJ), said it was the “picture of peaceful protest” and rejected the Met’s claims.
The Met criticised what it said was demonstrators’ attempts to “overwhelm the justice system” as hundreds of people defied the ban and faced arrest by declaring their support for the group.
Most of the arrests were for supporting a proscribed organisation, but around 25 people were arrested for assaults on police officers and other public order offences.
The force claimed there was a “co-ordinated effort to prevent officers from carrying out their duties which escalated to violence”, and criticised the fact that the 2,500 officers policing the protest were taken away from duties elsewhere in the capital.
But Defend Our Juries – organisers of the Parliament Square rally in which 1,500 people took part – insisted that the Met’s claim about abuse was “astonishing”.
A total of 890 people were arrested, with 857 arrests made for showing support for a proscribed group, while 33 people were arrested for assaulting police officers and other public order offences.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Claire Smart said: “In carrying out their duties today, our officers have been punched, kicked, spat on and had objects thrown at them by protesters.
“It is intolerable that those whose job it is to enforce the law and keep people safe – in this case arresting individuals committing offences under the Terrorism Act – should be subject to this level of abuse.
“The tactics deployed by supporters of Palestine Action in their attempt to overwhelm the justice system, as well as the level of violence seen in the crowd, required significant resources which took officers out of neighbourhoods to the detriment of the Londoners who rely on them.”
Smart added that a separate Palestine Coalition march, which was attended by around 20,000 people, “passed with very few arrests”.
A DOJ spokesperson said the people being arrested on Saturday were sitting and holding signs.
In response to the final arrest numbers, a DoJ spokesperson said: “The fact that 857 out of 1,500 were arrested and that this took 11 hours, makes a mockery of the ban on Palestine Action and shows once again that it is impossible to enforce.
“The people they’re arresting, it’s all people sitting here silently holding signs, a lot of elderly, many disabled people, veterans, vicars, healthcare workers in their scrubs, just like the picture of peaceful protest. I’ve only seen aggression and violence from the police.”
They said the arrests were “going so slowly”, adding: “I think they were probably embarrassed and maybe making this claim about violence to try and sort of deflect and change the narrative away from what the real story is here, which is that this ban is not enforceable and there’s just too many of us.
“It’s just being made a mockery of, really, by the numbers of people who are defying it and will continue to defy it until the Government drop it.”
Reverend Sue Parfitt was among those arrested on Saturday. This is the 83-year-old’s second time being arrested over demonstrating support for Palestine Action, according to DOJ.
She said: “The truth is that Palestine Action is not a terrorist organisation.
“It caused much damage confined to the weapons that are being used on the Palestinians.
“All of us with any moral backbone at all must stand up against this.”
There were frantic scenes in the area through the afternoon, as officers drew their batons during clashes, forced their way through crowds carrying arrested protesters and had screaming arguments with demonstrators.
One protester was seen with blood streaming down his face and several others fell over in a crush at one point.
Protesters also gathered for separate demonstrations in Belfast and Edinburgh.
Palestine Action was banned as a terror organisation in July after the group claimed responsibility for an action in which two Voyager planes were damaged at RAF Brize Norton on 20 June.
The Home Office is set to appeal against the High Court ruling allowing Palestine Action’s co-founder, Huda Ammori, to proceed with a legal challenge against the Government over the group’s ban.
Ammori took legal action against the department over then-home secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to proscribe the group under anti-terror laws, which made membership of, or support for, the direct action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
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