Over 500 protestors in London arrested over Palestine Action ban, says Met police

Over 500 protestors in London arrested over Palestine Action ban, says Met police London’s Metropolitan Police have said that they arrested 523 people at a protest in Trafalgar Square on Saturday calling for the UK to lift the banning of direct action group Palestine Action. This is the first mass demonstration against the ban since the High Court ruled the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation “unlawful”. The UK interior minister Shabana Mahmood was granted approval to appeal the ruling, and police have been instructed to continue arresting those showing support for the group. The protestors, many of them pensioners, were holding signs which read “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action." Police remove a man protesting the ban on the Palestine Action group during a demonstration in Trafalgar Square in central London on 11 April 2026 (Carlos Jasso/AFP)

London’s Metropolitan Police have said that they arrested 523 people at a protest in Trafalgar Square on Saturday calling for the UK to lift the banning of direct action group Palestine Action.

This is the first mass demonstration against the ban since the High Court ruled the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation “unlawful”.

The UK interior minister Shabana Mahmood was granted approval to appeal the ruling, and police have been instructed to continue arresting those showing support for the group.

The protestors, many of them pensioners, were holding signs which read “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action."