People who publicly support Palestine Action can face a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The British government outlawed Palestine Action under anti-terror laws in July 2025, and the Metropolitan Police said those attending the Battersea demonstration were supporting a proscribed organisation.
Sue Morhall, a 79-year-old retiree, sat outside the US embassy holding a sign supporting Palestine Action. She said she had been arrested ‘five or six’ times at earlier demonstrations.
“The USA is complicit in most of the wars that are going on. I just feel the leaders of this world, including Trump, need to know that people are so against what's happening in Gaza,” Morhall said.
Hundreds gathered outside the embassy in Battersea, south London, on Saturday for a lunchtime “mass action”. Defend Our Juries, which organised the demonstration, estimated that around 400 people took part.
They held signs reading ‘I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action’. Some applauded and chanted “free, free Palestine” as people were taken to police vans.
The Metropolitan Police began detaining demonstrators soon after the gathering began. It later said 139 people had been arrested and that officers remained at the scene making further arrests.
Commander Adam Slonecker, who led the policing operation, said: “All those intending on coming to this event know that supporting a proscribed organisation is unlawful – they are essentially meeting to purposefully commit a crime.”
Rev Bill White, a 72-year-old Church of England clergyman, held a sign reading ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action’. He resigned from the Labour party after Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist group.
Angie Zelter, 75, has already been charged at least eight times at earlier rallies supporting the group. Marji Mansfield, a 70-year-old retired financial adviser, said she had previously been arrested about 10 times.
Palestine Action was founded in 2020. It has mainly targeted weapons factories in Britain, particularly sites belonging to the Israel-based defence group Elbit.
In 2024, activists broke into a factory owned by Elbit Systems UK and smashed equipment with sledgehammers and crowbars. In June 2025, activists broke into a Royal Air Force base, sprayed red paint into the engines of two tanker planes and caused further damage with crowbars.
The Terrorism Act makes it an offence to “profess to belong” to Palestine Action, express an opinion or belief supporting it, or “wear any clothing in public or display any article” supporting it.
More than 4,000 arrests for supporting Palestine Action have been made since the ban took effect. Last month, more than 160 people were arrested or reported for summons after a similar demonstration outside the Labour party conference in Liverpool.
A separate vigil in support of the group was held outside the US consulate in Edinburgh, where no arrests were reported.
Palestine Action initially won a High Court challenge to its proscription, before the Court of Appeal reversed that decision. Its co-founder, Huda Ammori, has challenged the ban, calling it “disproportionate” and saying it infringed human rights.
The UK Supreme Court is scheduled to hear an appeal against Palestine Action’s designation as a terror group on 4 November. Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, has remained in post and stood firm in favour of the proscription.
Sally Rooney’s publisher, Faber, said this month that it could no longer sell her books in the UK because of her support for the group.
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