A mass protest against the ban on Palestine Action on Saturday could set a record for the number of people arrested at a single event of civil disobedience, organisers have said.
Defend Our Juries said it had received 1,500 pledges to attend the demonstration in London and risk arrest and was expecting hundreds more to register by the weekend.
The group said the record number of arrests at a single event was 1,314, made by the Metropolitan police during the Committee of 100’s 1961 anti-nuclear demonstration in Trafalgar Square. The central London square was also the centre of the 1990 poll tax uprisings when 339 people were arrested in one day.
More than 1,600 people have been arrested since the ban under the Terrorism Act came into effect on 5 July, mainly for holding signs reading: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” The highest arrest tally so far was on 6 September at a demonstration in Parliament Square when 890 people were detained, 857 for showing support for a proscribed group.
A Defend Our Juries spokesperson said: “With over 1,500 people already pledging to take part, and hundreds more expected to register by the weekend, this is set to be the biggest mass action yet defying the ban on Palestine Action.
“While Keir Starmer ignores the demands of his own party members to recognise Israel’s genocide and take action – including sanctions and a full arms embargo – thousands are stepping up where his government refuses to act.
“This Saturday could soon see the number of arrests nearly double from the current total of 1,600, setting a new record for the largest mass arrest – an extraordinary misuse of counter-terror and policing resources.”
On Sunday, Merseyside police arrested 66 people, including an 83-year-old, on suspicion of supporting Palestine Action at a rally outside the Labour party conference in Liverpool. Two were later dearrested.
Yvette Cooper, the then home secretary, announced the proscription plans in June, three days after Palestine Action claimed responsibility for a break-in at RAF Brize Norton. She had been advised to proscribe the group in March. She said the group, which targeted Elbit Systems UK and other organisations it claimed were directly or indirectly complicit in Israeli war crimes against Palestinians, had a “long history of unacceptable criminal damage” and was a threat to national security.
Its proscription, the first of a direct action protest group, placed it alongside groups such as Islamic State and National Action. The group’s co-founder, Huda Ammori, is seeking to overturn the ban in the courts.
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The Defend Our Juries spokesperson said: “It’s nothing short of a scandal that thousands of people are being arrested – from vicars and priests to students and retired healthcare workers – as our fundamental rights to free speech and protest have been stripped away, not to keep us safe, but to protect weapons manufacturers’ interests and enable Israel to continue to slaughter Palestinian people.
“The new home secretary must urgently rethink what has become a poll tax moment for this imploding Labour government. Their own party conference has already been overshadowed by the sight of pensioners and former Labour councillors dragged away by police for peacefully protesting the ban.”
They claimed that the government was prioritising companies’ profits over protest rights, citing the latest Home Office transparency data showing that a meeting took place on 3 June, shortly before the ban, between the then policing minister, Diana Johnson, and the insurance giant Allianz UK to discuss “protest activity and the destruction of property”. Allianz UK was repeatedly targeted by Palestine Action for allegedly providing insurance for Elbit Systems UK.
The Home Office has previously said it is “categorically false” that any private company influenced the decision.
