Arrests after protesters clash with police as Palestine Action proscribed

Police made 13 arrests after protesters clashed with officers at a demonstration in support of Palestine Action as the Government confirmed it will ban the group.

Six people were arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker and two on suspicion of obstructing a constable in the execution of their duty, the Metropolitan Police said.

One person was arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence after they were allegedly heard to shout racial abuse towards the protest.

When crowds remained in the area beyond Scotland Yard’s ordered 3pm end time, four people were arrested on suspicion of breaching Public Order Act conditions.

“While the protest initially began in a peaceful manner, officers faced violence when they went into the crowd to speak to three individuals whose behaviour was arousing suspicion,” a Met Police spokesperson said.

“This sequence of events repeated itself on multiple occasions, with officers being surrounded on each occasion they tried to deal with an incident.”

The road at one corner of the square was completely blocked by the march, with a line of police ready to stop the participants from leaving the area.

The protest had initially been planned to take place outside the Houses of Parliament, but the location was changed early on Monday morning after the Metropolitan Police imposed an exclusion zone.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a statement on Monday afternoon that she has decided to proscribe Palestine Action and will lay an order before Parliament next week which, if passed, will make membership and support for the protest group illegal.

On Sunday, Cabinet minister Jonathan Reynolds said he could not rule out the possibility of a foreign power being behind Palestine Action.

But speaking at the protest, Palestine Action spokesperson Max Geller said there had never been any evidence of such claims.

“I can’t overstate how absurd and disappointing that accusation is,” he told the PA news agency.

“I want to make very clear that there has never been any evidence offered to support such a claim, and if we were allowed to be a legally recognised group, that man would be being sued right now for libel.”

Asked about Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley’s comments, he said: “It’s really troubling that the head of the Met would pre-empt the Government and ban us from protesting (at the Houses of Parliament).

“It’s a frustrating turn for democracy in this country.”

Ms Cooper will provide MPs with more details on the move to proscribe the group, making it a criminal offence to belong to or support it, in a written ministerial statement.

Belonging to or expressing support for a proscribed organisation, along with a number of other actions, are criminal offences carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

The decision comes after the group posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

The clip shows one person riding an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker and appearing to spray paint into its jet engine.

Speaking on Sunday, Sir Mark said he was “shocked and frustrated” at the protest, but that until the group is proscribed the force had “no power in law” to prevent it taking place.

“The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest,” he added.

“Thousands of people attend protests of a different character every week without clashing with the law or with the police. The criminal charges faced by Palestine Action members, in contrast, represent a form of extremism that I believe the overwhelming majority of the public rejects.”

Proscription will require Ms Cooper to lay an order in Parliament, which must then be debated and approved by both MPs and peers.

Some 81 organisations have been proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and al Qaida, far-right groups such as National Action, and Russian private military company the Wagner Group.

Palestine Action has staged a series of demonstrations in recent months, including spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalising US President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire.