‘Labour’s poll tax moment’: hundreds of arrests at Palestine Action protest

Scuffles and chants of “Shame on you” followed the Metropolitan police as they arrested hundreds of people for terrorism offences in Parliament Square in London ay on Saturday.

Officers faced physical and verbal abuse in what the force called a “coordinated effort” to disrupt the arrests of those holding the signs, with additional arrests for assault among a fringe group.

Defend Our Juries, a campaign group that helped to organise the latest demonstration, had aimed for the arrests of at least 1,000 people. It claimed that more than that number had been present , ­calling the protest Labour’s “poll tax moment”.

By 5pm, just 150 arrests had been confirmed, but officers were making slow progress and many protesters signalled their intent to stay until they were arrested.

A Met source said the force believed it was possible that arrests would reach the 1,000 mark.

Many of those holding signs said that seeing the mass arrests of demonstrators at a similar protest last month had prompted them to take action themselves.

Amaryllis, 41, was waiting on the grass in Parliament Square with a sheet of paper and a pen in a Sainsbury’s bag. “I watched them arrest lots of elderly and disabled people last time,” she said. “What’s going on in Gaza is a genocide, and everyone with a moral compass should be here.”

Palestine Action was proscribed in July after three incidents at arms factories, one of which involved an allegation of GBH.

Amaryllis, an addiction recovery worker, added: “I’m a Londoner. I was here on 7/7 [the bombings of 7 July 2005]. I know what terrorism is.”

The record for mass arrests in the UK dates back to 1961, when 1,341 people were arrested for obstructing the highway during a protest for nuclear disarmament organised by the Committee of 100, the anti-war group co-founded by the philosopher Bertrand Russell.

A total of 1,304 people had agreed to hold signs at Saturday’s protest, according to the Lift the Ban campaign. It was expecting hundreds of additional supporters to join the demonstration.

Officers used street “hubs” with the intention of processing arrests more quickly and releasing suspects on bail, but Defend Our Juries briefed its supporters not to accept police bail. Many said they would insist on being taken to a police station.

The numbers of possible arrests raised concerns over custody capacity in the city, but the Met insisted it would not be overwhelmed.

Mother-and-daughter Di and Hannah Keal travelled to London from North Yorkshire to be arrested for a second time, saying that they had been unable to wait for the police to get round to them last month. “We just share a belief about what’s happening in Gaza. It’s beyond anything I’ve seen in my lifetime. It’s genocide, and our government is rolling out the red carpet for the Israeli president.”

The government has defended the visit of Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel, who is expected in the UK on Wednesday and Thursday, despite his comments forming part of an international court of justice finding last year that there was a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza.

Other protesters cited the use of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus as a base for surveillance flights over Gaza and the continued sale of parts for F-35 fighter jets on the global market in the knowledge they were reaching Israel.

On Saturday, it emerged that a factory in Bristol run by Elbit, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, would be shut down. The site was repeatedly targeted by Palestine Action.

Last week, Met police arrested six organisers from DOJ, including Tim Crosland, a former government lawyer disbarred as a barrister for contempt of court after leaking plans for a third runway at Heathrow in breach of a supreme court order.

Crosland was released on bail with strict terms, including no access to technology without police permission.

The six face terror charges that could lead to sentences of up to 14 years in prison. Kerry Moscogiuri, director of campaigns and communications at Amnesty International UK, called the case “absolutely horrifying”.

She added: “Charging people with terrorism offences for holding Zoom calls to organise peaceful demonstrations is as dangerous as it is absurd.”

A Met spokesman said last night: “Officers continue to make arrests of individuals showing support for the proscribed terrorist organisation Palestine Action at the Defend Our Juries protest.”

Photographs by Andy Hall/The Observer