Protesters celebrate outside the High Court, central London, where Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Swift and Mrs Justice Steyn have ruled in favour of Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori’s challenge over the ban of the organisation as a terror group
THOUSANDS of people are expected to demonstrate against the ban on Palestine Action in central London on Saturday despite police lifting their pause on arresting the sit-down sign-holders.
Protest group Defend Our Juries said the demonstration is to show resistance to the ban, which was ruled unlawful by the High Court in February, “is stronger than ever.”
The 60-minute action will see protesters sit silently holding banners reading “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action” in Trafalgar Square from 1pm.
Last month, the Metropolitan Police announced officers would resume arresting suspected Palestine Action supporters, after the High Court ruled the ban unlawful by allowing it to continue pending the outcome of an appeal by the Home Office.
A Defend Our Juries spokesperson said: “The protest against the proscription of Palestine Action has grown beyond a question of the right to protest.
“The actions of the UK government and police following the High Court’s ruling expose what many have long known: democracy in the UK is on its knees.
…
They added: “This campaign now extends far beyond Palestine Action, beyond Gaza, and beyond the principles of protest and free speech.
“It speaks to a fundamental erosion of the right to dissent and to hold power to account. This is no longer a marginal issue – it concerns everyone who values democratic freedoms.”
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.
HUMAN rights campaigners and MPs hailed a “huge victory” for six Filton 24 activists in the face of “extraordinary political pressure” after a jury acquitted them of all charges today.
Following eight full days of deliberation, defendants in the Palestine Action-linked case were not convicted of a single charge after breaking into a British site of Israel-based arms firm Elbit Systems.
Defend Our Juries called the verdicts a “huge blow” to ministers who tried to make Palestine Action into “a violent group to justify banning it under badly drafted terrorism legislation.”
And MPs joined rights groups to say the case proves the importance of jury trials after the Justice Secretary David Lammy recently announced plans to scrap the majority of juries in England and Wales.
Labour MP Kim Johnson told the Morning Star that the verdicts were “a resounding victory for the Palestine activists and for the fundamental principle of trial by jury.”
Activists had been held on remand for over 17 months accused of using or threatening unlawful violence and using sledgehammers during their action on the factory in Filton near Bristol.
Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Ellie (Leona) Kamio, 30, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 20, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, had faced a series of charges for the action in August 2024.
Despite five of them admitting in court to destroying weapons belonging to Israel’s largest arms manufacturers Elbit Systems, the jury refused to convict the defendants of criminal damage.
Mr Corner was also not convicted of grievous bodily harm with intent for striking a police officer.
The rest of the Filton 24 are still being held on remand in relation to the action, which sought to disrupt and expose Elbit’s role in manufacturing weapons used in attacks on Palestinians, including drones.
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
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Police officers detain protesters during the “Lift the Ban” demonstration organized by the civil action and campaign group Defend Our Juries ahead of a judicial review into the decision to designate the Palestine Action group as a terrorist organization at Tavistock Square in London, United Kingdom, on November 22, 2025. [Raşid Necati Aslım – Anadolu Agency]
At least 90 protesters were arrested at a London demonstration in support of the banned activist group, Palestine Action, police said Saturday, Anadolu reports.
The arrests as of 1800GMT are in relation to the protest organized by Defend Our Juries in support of the “proscribed terrorist organisation Palestine Action,” Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
It added that the protest concluded and those involved have left the area.
Protesters gathered in Tavistock Square, where demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and signs while chanting pro-Palestine slogans.
Some of the banners read: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
The Defend Our Juries group wrote on the US social media platform X that police instantly started arresting protestors for silently holding signs that it said opposed genocide and the Palestine Action ban.
“Today’s protest is happening in Tavistock Square, London — known as the peace gardens with anti-war memorials. Lift the ban,” it added.
Palestine Action was banned in July under the UK’s Terrorism Act, a decision that has led to the arrests of hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters for holding signs or showing support for the group.
The new protests come ahead of and during the judicial review set to be heard from Nov. 25 to 27, which may see Palestine Action’s proscription as a terror organization overturned.
Since October 2023, the Israeli army has killed nearly 70,000 victims in Gaza, primarily women and children, injured more than 170,800, and reduced the enclave to rubble. The onslaught came to a halt under a ceasefire deal that took effect Oct. 10.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Police detain demonstrators as activists gather outside the Ministry of Justice during the “Lift the Ban” protest launched by the Defend Our Juries campaign group ahead of the judicial review on the designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organization in London, United Kingdom, on November 20, 2025. [Raşid Necati Aslım – Anadolu Agency]
UK police made a number of arrests Thursday outside the Justice Ministry in London after protesters staged a silent demonstration against the government’s decision to proscribe the Palestine Action activist group, Anadolu reports.
Demonstrators held signs that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
Police have not confirmed how many people were detained in London, where around 100 people were gathered.
Protests also took place Tuesday in Nottingham, Gloucester, Truro, Northampton, Oxford, Leeds, Newcastle, Cardiff, Aberystwyth, and Edinburgh.
The protest was organized by Defend Our Juries, which is holding demonstrations in 18 towns and cities from Nov. 18-29, demanding the lifting of the ban.
“The Terrorism Act is being weaponized to silence the public. We will continue to resist until the ban is lifted,” the group said on the US social media company X.
Palestine Action was proscribed July 5 under anti-terror legislation following alleged attacks on the UK facilities of an Israel-based defense firm and damage to two military aircraft at RAF (Royal Air Force) Brize Norton.
The ban makes membership of, or support for, the direct-action network a criminal offense carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years.
Huda Ammori, the group’s co-founder, is taking legal action against then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to outlaw the organization.
A court hearing is scheduled for late November.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
Defend Our Juries announce the locations of the 20 UK-wide local actions in their Lift The Ban campaign against the ban on Palestine Action and against the UK government’s complicity in genocide.
The actions are intended to restore fundamental rights in relation to protest and freedom of expression in the UK ahead of and during the judicial review of the proscription of Palestine Action (25–27 November).
Local police forces are operationally independent of central government so have to make their own choices about how to react to Lift The Ban protests. Police forces have chosen not to arrest sign-holders at previous actions in Derry, Edinburgh, Totnes, Norwich and Kendal – choosing instead to respect their right to protest and to freedom of expression.
Ordinary members of the public will be taking part in acts of dangerous sign-holding at 1pm in the following locations on Tuesday 18 November:
Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth House, 1 Sibbald Walk, EH8 8FT
Caerdydd (Cardiff), Senedd
Oxford, Clarendon Building, OX1 3AZ
Newcastle, Civic Centre
Leeds, Dortmund Square
Aberystwyth, location to be announced
Nottingham, Green Heart (paved area near the new central library)
Northampton, The steps of Guildhall, St Giles’ Square, Northampton, NN1 1DE
Gloucester, Cathedral
Truro, Meet in the square outside front entrance of Truro Cathedral, High Cross
Then again on Saturday 22 in Belfast at The Square between the courts on Chichester Street.
And on Saturday 29 November in these locations:
Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth House
Caerdydd (Cardiff), location to be announced nearer the date
Manchester, location to be announced
Birmingham, Chamberlain Square, B3 3DH (opposite Museum and Art Gallery)
Cambridge, Guildhall, opposite the market: Guildhall Place, Market Hill
Bristol, College Green, BS1 5TJ
Sheffield, Cathedral
Exeter, outside Central Station, Queens Street
Lancaster, outside Lancaster Castle
And (as announced previously) in London at:
The Ministry Of Justice (Thursday 20th)
The Peace Garden in Tavistock Square (Saturday 22nd)
The Home Office (Monday 24th) and
The Royal Courts of Justice (Wednesday 26th)
The action in Belfast on Saturday 22nd November will be the first Lift The Ban action in the city. There have been regular independently-organised sign-holding actions in Derry but no arrests or charges have been brought to date in the north of Ireland. Legal experts say that Police Service Northern Ireland need the proscription “like a hole in the head” and they suspect that PSNI were not consulted on the proscription by the Home Secretary.
Police Scotland have so far made no arrests at Lift The Ban actions in Edinburgh, although they have subsequently arrested and charged a seemingly random ten people from the 85 who took action in September. The Scottish Counter-Terrorism Board CONTEST has concluded that Palestine Action “has not been close to meeting the statutory definition of terrorism.” Earlier this month former diplomat Craig Murray filed a legal challenge against the ban in Scotland meaning there is the potential for a constitutional crisis if Scottish and English courts reach different decisions.
In Cardiff when people sit outside the Senedd building they will do so knowing that at the last Lift The Ban action there in July Welsh police arrested sign-holders under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. They also held people in custody while raiding their houses and testing their food with geiger counters. However the same sitters were subsequently charged only with lesser section 13 offences (maximum penalty of six months in prison).
Leigh Evans, retired Emergency Nurse with extensive experience of working in the West Bank and Gaza, who took part in the Global Flotilla, and who will be taking action in Cardiff said:
“Protest and direct action are prerequisites for democracy in the face of fascism. Direct action is the only thing that has ever been proved to work against oppression and apartheid. Every right we have has been won for us through protest and direct action from the Levellers in the 17th century to the suffragettes in the early 1900s. Direct action and protests give us our human rights.”
Elle Miller, Railway Maintenance Worker, age 43 from Glasgow, explained why she will be taking part in both Edinburgh actions as well as the action in London on 26th:
“In today’s politics, it feels like the only way to influence decisions is to have millions in the bank. Without protest, slavery would still be legal, women couldn’t vote, and same-sex marriage would still be illegal. We know protest works precisely because successive governments are trying to criminalise it. If sitting peacefully with a cardboard sign makes me a terrorist, then I hope my great-grandchildren will be as proud of me as relatives of the suffragettes are today.
“The decision to proscribe Palestine Action was driven by corporate interests profiting from arms sales to those committing atrocities in Palestine and beyond. It is not illegal to challenge those interests or to campaign to change unjust laws. The Scottish Government has recognised the genocide in Palestine – so why are Police Scotland arresting peaceful protesters? Who do they serve: the UK Government, or the people of Scotland who oppose this ban?”
Oliver Baines OBE, 74, a farmer and retired charity CEO from Grampound Road who will be among those holding signs in Truro on the 18th, said:
“Devon and Cornwall Police pride themselves on their community policing, so a group of local residents sitting in silent vigil opposing genocide was always going to create a dilemma for them. When eight were arrested in July, the police were courteous and, in many cases, clearly uncomfortable. Their subsequent change of policy was typified by one officer who described the October protest as ‘lovely and peaceful’.
“Our argument was never with the police but with the UK Government, with its shameful attack on our civil liberties, and with its appalling record of complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. Equating solidarity with Palestine and opposition to genocide with being a terrorist is a gross insult to all peace-loving people.”
LIFT THE BAN CAMPAIGN
So far over 2,000 people have been arrested under terrorism legislation for taking part in these now famous actions in which people sit silently holding handwritten cardboard signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” Around 170 of these have so far been charged with section 13 offences under the Terrorism Act 2000, offences which carry a maximum six month prison sentence.
The demands of the Lift The campaign are firstly to lift the ban on Palestine Action and secondly to name the ongoing Israeli assault on the Palestinian people as a genocide and comply with the resulting legal obligations, including by ending all military trade and other military cooperation with Israel.
At the Court Of Appeal ruling on 15 October, Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori won two more grounds for her Judicial Review at the same time as the government lost their attempt to block the legal challenge of the ban, making
Last month the UN issued its draft report Gaza Genocide: A Collective Crime detailing the complicity of states including the UK in the destruction of Gaza. Amongst other things, the UK continued to supply arms including components for F-35 stealth bombers, undertook daily surveillance flights over Gaza for Israel, maintained normal trade relations, and allowed Israel to undertake international crimes with impunity.
The genocide continues to unfold in Gaza. Since October 11, the first full day of the ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 245 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 627. Israel continues to attack Gaza, with at least three airstrikes on Wednesday. The UN says Israel is blocking vaccines and baby bottles. More than 1,500 buildings beyond the “yellow line” have been destroyed. And in the West Bank yesterday settlers set fire to vehicles, including dairy trucks.
CHORUS OF CRITICISM
This week the government’s proscription of Palestine Action has come under fire yet again from expert bodies both in the UK and internationally with the release of three separate reports. On Tuesday a panel of experts including a former MI6 director said terrorism laws needed rewriting as they had become too broad to keep the country safe, hitting out at the ‘serious property damage’ clause” which has resulted in a nonviolent domestic direct action group being designated as terrorists for the first time.
Later that same day it was revealed that an advisory body had told ministers that banning Palestine Action could backfire by inadvertently raising the group’s public profile, becoming “a flashpoint for significant controversy and criticism” of the government, heightening Muslim-Jewish community tensions, and being seen as evidence of bias towards Israel.
28 prisoners are currently being held in UK prisons without trial for allegedly taking part in actions claimed by Palestine action. They are known as the Filton 24 and the Brize Norton Five. Most will be held for two years without trial – exceeding the six month pre-trial custody limit – because the Crown Prosecution Service is claiming there is a “terrorist connection” on the basis of criminal damage. However no charges have been brought under the Terrorism Act against these prisoners and the actions took place before Palestine Action was proscribed by the government.
Six of these prisoners are now on a rolling hunger strike. The hunger strike started on Saturday 2nd November – Balfour Day – with two people after the Home Secretary failed to respond to their demands including immediate bail, access to documents necessary for the right to a fair trial and the de-proscription of Palestine Action. The strike is “rolling” because more people continue to join the strike as their demands remain unmet. The conditions of their detention have been criticised by UN experts in a letter to the UK government.
In August of this year T Hoxa of the Filton 24 went on hunger strike for 28 days, eventually winning most of her demands. According to Prisoners For Palestine, most of the 33 activists are expected to join the strike in coming weeks, in what could become the largest coordinated prisoners’ hunger strike since the 1981 Irish hunger strike led by Bobby Sands. For more information on the hunger strikers see Prisoners for Palestine.
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Protesters celebrate outside the High Court, central London, where Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Swift and Mrs Justice Steyn have ruled in favour of Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori’s challenge over the ban of the organisation as a terror group
Photo of six, taken night before action
