The heart of London pulsed with tension and defiance on September 6, 2025, as more than 1,500 protesters gathered in Parliament Square to challenge the British government’s controversial ban on the activist group Palestine Action. By the day’s end, London’s Metropolitan Police had arrested over 425 people—one of the largest mass arrests in the city’s recent history—amid violent clashes, accusations of excessive force, and a fierce debate over civil liberties and the boundaries of protest.
Organized by Defend Our Juries, a campaign group advocating for the right to protest, the demonstration drew a diverse crowd: pensioners, environmentalists, Holocaust survivor descendants, healthcare workers, and even prominent artists like Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja. Many held up cardboard signs and placards reading, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” a message that, under current law, risked arrest and prosecution.
The rally began at 1:00 PM, marked by the chimes of Big Ben. Protesters, some seated in camp chairs or on the grass, quietly prepared their signs before the square erupted in applause and chants of “free Palestine.” The mood, however, quickly shifted. Roughly 15 minutes after the start, police began selecting individuals holding supportive signs and arresting them one by one. According to BBC, many protesters followed organizers’ instructions to go “floppy,” making it physically harder for officers to carry them away. Each arrest was met with shouts of “shame on you” and, at times, more heated language from the crowd.
The Metropolitan Police reported that officers faced “an exceptional level of abuse including punches, kicks, spitting and objects being thrown, in addition to verbal abuse.” The force said there had been a “coordinated effort to prevent officers carrying out their duties,” insisting that any assaults would be prosecuted “to the full extent of the law.” Officers drew their batons during the unrest, and one protester was seen with blood streaming down his face behind a barrier after being detained, as reported by The Independent.
Defend Our Juries, for its part, accused police of “violently assault[ing] peaceful protesters including the elderly, in order to try and arrest over a thousand people for holding cardboard signs.” The group shared footage on social media of an officer shoving an elderly protester to the ground. “The resistance to this ridiculous ban keeps on growing exponentially,” a spokesperson said, adding that the demonstration revealed the ban’s “impossibility to enforce and [it was] a preposterous waste of resources.”
Among those swept up in the arrests was Mike Higgins, a 62-year-old blind wheelchair user who had already made headlines after being arrested at a similar rally in August. “What choice do I have? Nothing is being done about the genocide other than by us,” he told the Press Association. “And I’m a terrorist? That’s the joke of it. I’ve already been arrested under the Terrorism Act and I suspect I will be today. Of course I’ll keep coming back—what choice do I have?”
The protest was not confined to London. Police Scotland made two arrests at a solidarity demonstration in Edinburgh, where dozens gathered in support of the banned group. The breadth of participation and the willingness of many to risk arrest underscored the depth of feeling provoked by the government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action.
The roots of the controversy stretch back to July 2025, when the UK government banned Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000. The move followed a dramatic incident in June, when members of the group broke into an air force base in southern England and caused around £7 million ($9.4 million) in damage to two military aircraft. The government’s response was swift and severe: membership in, or public support for, Palestine Action became a criminal offense, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The ban has not only criminalized the group’s direct action but also sparked a fierce debate about the limits of free speech and protest. Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, has called the government’s decision “catastrophic for civil liberties,” warning it would create a “much wider chilling effect on freedom of speech.” The group has won High Court approval to challenge the ban, with a hearing scheduled for September 25, 2025. The government, however, is seeking to overturn the court’s ruling, and the Home Office was granted permission to appeal earlier this week.
Voices from the protest reflected a wide spectrum of motivations and concerns. Margaret, a 79-year-old retiree who traveled from Dorset, told BBC, “The law is ridiculous. We need to change the law. We’re called terrorists, and it’s absolutely stupid.” Sir Jonathon Porritt, a veteran environmental campaigner and former adviser to the King, explained his presence simply: “I’m here because I am sick to the heart with what is going on in Gaza and the genocide. I’m outraged with the government’s direct complicity and I want to see our government held to account.”
Notably, the protest’s demographics skewed older than many might expect. The average age of those arrested at the previous August rally was 54, with the largest group aged 60 to 69. This detail, reported by BBC, challenges common perceptions about who is willing to risk arrest for political causes.
Human rights organizations have been vocal in their criticism of the government’s approach. Kerry Moscogiuri, director of campaigns at Amnesty International UK, said, “When the government is arresting people under terrorism laws for sitting peacefully in protest, something is going very wrong here in the UK.” She added, “It is genuinely shocking to see people being hauled from the streets of London by the police for peacefully holding up signs. Let’s be clear, it is disproportionate to the point of absurdity to treat people sitting peacefully in a group holding signs in support of Palestine Action as ‘terrorists’.”
The Metropolitan Police, for their part, have defended their actions, arguing that the tactics used at the protest required significant resources and took officers away from other duties in London. “The tactics used at the protest to overwhelm the justice system... required significant resource which took officers out of neighbourhoods to the detriment of the Londoners who rely on them,” the force stated.
The government’s stance has been steadfast. Former home secretary Yvette Cooper, who was moved to the Foreign Office in a recent cabinet reshuffle, previously defended the ban by suggesting that some supporters of Palestine Action “don’t know the full nature” of the group. Meanwhile, campaigners argue that the ban is not only draconian but also unenforceable, pointing to the sheer number of arrests and the willingness of individuals to continue demonstrating.
As the legal battle over the ban continues, and with another hearing scheduled for later this month, the streets of London have become a flashpoint for a much broader debate about the balance between national security, freedom of expression, and the right to dissent. For now, the images of elderly protesters being carried away by police, of bloodied faces and defiant chants, linger in the public consciousness—a stark reminder of the high stakes in the ongoing struggle over protest and power in the UK.
