British police said Sunday that they arrested almost 900 people demonstrating in London against a ban on the group Palestine Action, which has been deemed a terrorist organization by the government.
Almost 1,600 people have now been detained, many for silently holding signs supporting the group, since it was outlawed two months ago. Protesters say the ban on Palestine Action is an unwarranted curb on free speech and the right to protest.
The Metropolitan Police force said 890 people were arrested at Saturday's demonstration, the vast majority, 857, under the Terrorism Act for supporting a proscribed organization. Some 33 were detained for other offenses, including 17 for assaulting police officers.
Defend Our Juries, the campaign group organizing the protest, said 1,500 people took part in the demonstration outside Parliament, sitting down and holding signs reading “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
Within minutes, police began arresting the demonstrators, as bystanders chanted “Shame on you,” and “Met Police, pick a side, justice or genocide.” There were some scuffles and angry exchanges as officers dragged away demonstrators who went limp as they were removed from the crowd.
Legitimate exercise of fundamental freedoms across the UK,” Volker Türk warned.
He added that according to international standards, terrorist acts should be confined to crimes such as those intended to cause death or serious injury or the taking of hostages.
Huda Ammori, Palestine Action’s co-founder, has condemned the government’s decision to ban it as “catastrophic” for civil liberties, leading to a “much wider chilling effect on freedom of speech.”
The group has been supported by prominent cultural figures including bestselling Irish author Sally Rooney, who said she planned to use the proceeds of her work “to keep backing Palestine Action and direct action against genocide.”
Israel — founded in part as a refuge in the wake of the Holocaust, when some 6 million European Jews were murdered — vehemently denies it is committing genocide.
Britain’s government stressed that proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist group does not affect other lawful groups — including pro-Palestinian or pro-Israel voices — campaigning or peacefully protesting.
About 20,000 people, by a police estimate, attended a separate pro-Palestinian march in London on Saturday.
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