London Police Arrest 325 at Palestine Action Protest Outside US Embassy

The Metropolitan Police said on Sunday that 325 people were arrested at a protest supporting the banned Palestine Action group outside the United States embassy in London. Of those, 320 were arrested for expressing support for a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act. "In total, 325 people were arrested yesterday," the Met said in its update on Sunday.

The protest took place on Saturday, Oct 31, 2026, in Nine Elms in south-west London. Hundreds of people took part, PA reported, and many held signs reading: I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.

Arrests began around midday

Officers started arresting demonstrators one by one around midday on Saturday, carrying some who refused to walk. Those arrested went to police vans on Ponton Road, just off the embassy grounds, then to police stations.

A Section 35 dispersal order covered the embassy grounds from 8am to 11pm that day.

A court appeal opens this week

Defend Our Juries organised the protest ahead of a Supreme Court appeal against the designation of Palestine Action as a terror group. The court holds a two-day hearing from Wednesday, Nov 4, 2026. The Home Office says it will robustly defend the ban.

Charles Allison, 75, a retired lawyer from Cumbria who took part, told PA he hoped the justices would "take a long-term view of what is happening in this country and decide that the proscription was unlawful, as I believe it was."

Palestine Action was proscribed in 2025, and expressing support for it is an offence under the Terrorism Act. AFP reported that membership or support is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. In August, the United States announced sanctions against the group, designating it a terror group.

More than 4,000 arrests since the ban

Defend Our Juries said Saturday took the total detained for defying the ban past 4,000 since 2025. Home Office figures seen by the BBC show 3,630 arrests in the year ending June 2026. Adding the 134 arrested outside Westminster Magistrates Court earlier this year and those from Saturday gives 4,089.

Defend Our Juries said one arrested was human rights lawyer Margaret Owen, 94. Green Party leader Zack Polanski described a video of her arrest posted on X as truly dystopian.

Criticism, and a second protest in Edinburgh

Amnesty International UK criticised the arrests and called on the government to drop the proscription. Defend Our Juries called the arrests unjust and an assault on free speech. Its spokesperson said: "The ban on Palestine Action was straight out of (US President Donald) Trump's playbook so it's fitting that this significant milestone has been reached on Halloween and outside the US embassy, laying bare the terrifying attacks on free speech that this authoritarian ban has unleashed."

A smaller protest also took place outside the US consulate in Edinburgh on Saturday. Police Scotland made no arrests there and told AFP enquiries are ongoing to identify people seen wearing t-shirts and holding banners supporting a proscribed organisation. "Evidence is being reviewed and further action will be taken as appropriate," it said on Sunday, Nov 1, 2026.