Palestine Action Ban Faces Supreme Court Challenge as Police Arrest More Than 300 Outside US Embassy

The Palestine Action ban faces a Supreme Court challenge this week after Saturday's protest outside the US embassy in London. The Metropolitan Police confirmed on Sunday that officers had arrested 325 people.

The group was proscribed under the Terrorism Act on 5 July 2025. Its co-founder subsequently secured permission to appeal against the ban, after conflicting judgements in the lower courts left the legality of the measure contested.

Palestine Action Protest Brings Arrests

Of those detained, 320 were arrested on suspicion of 'expressing support for a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act', the Met stated. Hundreds had gathered outside the embassy in Nine Elms, with many carrying signs reading 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.' Most arrests since the ban have involved people holding such placards.

The BBC described arrests continuing into the evening, with officers taking demonstrators to police vans as other protesters applauded. Some chanted 'Free, free Palestine.' Others refused to walk and were carried.

Retired lawyer Charles Allison, 75, travelled from Cumbria and was taken away by police in the afternoon. He described civil liberties as 'being devalued and watered down'.

'I hope the Supreme Court justices - they won't necessarily be influenced by it [the protest] - but I hope that they will take a long-term view of what is happening in this country and decide that the proscription was unlawful, as I believe it was,' he told the BBC.

Another protester awaiting arrest, David Bolden, called the ban an 'absurd law'.

Defend Our Juries, which has organised the protest campaign, puts the cumulative number of arrests above 4,000. It called the detentions 'truly dystopian' and 'unjust', describing the arrests as an assault on free speech.

A vigil also took place in Edinburgh on Saturday, although Police Scotland recorded no arrests, the Guardian stated.

Palestine Action Appeal Challenges Ban's Lawfulness

The Supreme Court granted permission to appeal on the question of whether the Home Secretary complied with her published policy when proscribing Palestine Action.

The High Court ruled the ban unlawful, but the Court of Appeal overturned that decision. The ban remains in force as the dispute reaches the UK's highest court. Neither lower court placed much weight on the fate of people arrested for holding placards, the Guardian noted.

About 2,500 people have been charged over alleged support for Palestine Action.

Amnesty International UK has criticised the arrests and urged the government to drop the proscription.

Unease Within Government Over Palestine Action Ban

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband addressed earlier arrests in a September interview with LBC's Andrew Marr. Marr questioned him about the arrests of 'elderly people, vicars and grannies' holding placards.

'I don't think anyone's intent was to have those people criminalised. But obviously the supreme court has got to look at this issue and obviously it's something we keep looking at as a government.'

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood subsequently told The Rest is Politics podcast that seeing some protesters arrested had been 'very uncomfortable'. She nevertheless defended the ban.

The Supreme Court hearing will begin on Wednesday and is scheduled to conclude on Thursday, with judgement reserved until a later date.