LONDON (Azat TV) – The Metropolitan Police arrested 325 people during a demonstration outside the US Embassy in Nine Elms, London, on Saturday, November 1, 2026, with the vast majority detained under counter-terrorism legislation for expressing support for the proscribed group Palestine Action, as reported by BBC.
Hundreds of demonstrators had gathered at the south-west London diplomatic site carrying placards bearing slogans such as “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” According to updates published by the Metropolitan Police on Sunday, November 2, 2026, 320 of the 325 individuals taken into custody were arrested specifically for expressing support for a proscribed organization under the Terrorism Act. Palestine Action was formally banned under terrorism provisions in July 2025.
Mass Detentions Push Cumulative Total Past 4,000 Arrests
Saturday’s operation involved officers moving in throughout the day, detaining participants one by one and carrying individuals who refused to walk into police vans parked nearby on Ponton Road. As The National reported, some demonstrators chanted “free, free Palestine” and applauded those being led away, while others scaled trees and waved banners reading “we are protesters, not terrorists.”
The weekend crackdown pushed the cumulative number of arrests linked to Palestine Action past the 4,000 threshold since the group’s proscription last year. Campaign group Defend Our Juries, which has coordinated multiple demonstrations against the ban, calculated that the latest detentions raised the overall total to 4,089. This figure includes 3,630 arrests recorded by the Home Office in the year ending June 2026, alongside 134 arrests outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court earlier in the year.
Legal Battle Heads to the UK Supreme Court
The demonstration unfolded days before a crucial legal challenge scheduled for November 4, 2026, in which the UK Supreme Court is set to review the proscription of Palestine Action under terrorism legislation after the group’s co-founder secured permission to appeal. The Home Office has maintained that it will robustly defend the government’s ban throughout the legal proceedings.
Civil liberties organizations have sharply condemned the police response. Amnesty International UK criticized the mass detentions and urged the government to rescind the proscription, while Defend Our Juries described the weekend arrests as an unjust assault on free speech. Individual protesters who traveled from across the country also voiced deep concern over diminishing legal protections. Charles Allison, a 75-year-old retired lawyer who traveled from Cumbria and was subsequently arrested, stated that he feared civil liberties were “being devalued and watered down,” expressing hope that Supreme Court justices would take a long-term view on the legality of the ban.
The decision to hold the protest outside the US Embassy in Nine Elms added a distinct geopolitical dimension to the day’s events. Activists highlighted that the United States government had announced sanctions against Palestine Action in August, designating it a terror group. Organizers argued that the domestic proscription mirrored external pressures, aligning British counter-terrorism measures with American foreign policy priorities and corporate interests tied to defense manufacturing. Law enforcement deployed a Section 35 dispersal order across parts of London covering the embassy grounds from early morning until late evening on Saturday to manage the expected crowds.
Police operations drew varied reactions from local officials and political figures. Lambeth Council leader Martin Abrams expressed deep concern on social media regarding the deployment of local police resources, noting that municipal officers were already contending with severe resourcing constraints that impacted routine community policing. Conversely, organizers maintained that mass arrests of peaceful demonstrators failed to enhance public safety and instead highlighted the growing criminalization of political dissent under the Terrorism Act.
Among those detained alongside Charles Allison were several prominent figures, including 94-year-old human rights lawyer Margaret Owen, whose arrest was widely shared across digital platforms and condemned by political figures such as Green Party leader Zack Polanski. Protest participants also included families seeking to demonstrate the value of political activism to younger generations, with attendees emphasizing that the risks of arrest were secondary to what they perceived as a moral imperative to oppose government policy.
As legal teams prepare for the Supreme Court hearings, the broader political fallout from the proscription continues to widen. The intersection of domestic protest laws, counter-terrorism enforcement, and international diplomatic locations has transformed Palestine Action into a focal point for the wider debate over civil liberties in the United Kingdom. With cumulative arrests now exceeding 4,000, both supporters and critics await the judicial outcome, which is expected to establish crucial legal precedents for the boundaries of free speech and lawful dissent regarding foreign policy and proscribed organizations.