Take Back Power protesters outside Parliament, February 2026 [Pic: Will Colebourne]
AN UNDERCOVER Daily Mail journalist was among seven people arrested at a non-violent training event organised by Take Back Power, the activist group revealed today.
Dozens of officers arrived at Millman Street Community Centre in London at around 12.30pm on Saturday.
Scotland Yard said the event was part of “plans for mass shoplifting and the unlawful occupation of shops” and seven people were held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit theft before being released on bail.
Police also raided the home of a Take Back Power supporter at 3.20pm. The 25-year-old handed himself in after finding out there was a warrant for his arrest. Police, however, raided his home again at 2am today, said the activists.
Take Back Power activists threw apple crumble and custard at the Crown Jewels in December.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman said: “There is a clear difference between lawful protest and criminal acts.”
dizzy: Difficulties are encountered trying to select a part of this article since it’s so short. Looks like the statement “There is a clear difference between lawful protest and criminal acts.” is unfinished … and that there are exceptions. There is something to be said here about applying laws unequally. [ed 9.25 harshly, severely, hastily …]
A protester faces off with Met riot police during a previous ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally in London in September. Photograph: James Willoughby/Sopa Images/Shutterstock
Celebrities including Annie Lennox and Miriam Margolyes sign letter to force after pro-Palestine march route rejected
Annie Lennox and Miriam Margolyes are among artists who have accused the Metropolitan police of giving preferential treatment to a far-right demonstration led by Tommy Robinson over a pro-Palestine protest in London on the same day.
The pro-Palestine movement has had its preferred route through central London for its annual commemoration of Nakba – the mass expulsion of Palestinians – rejected by the Met, while the “Unite the Kingdom” demonstration will take place on the same date in Kingsway, the Strand, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall and Parliament Square. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, posted on X: “London is ours on May 16th.”
An open letter saying that the Met “must not favour the far right over Palestine” has also been signed by the actors Samuel West and Khalid Abdalla, the musicians Billy Bragg and Nadine Shah, as well as MPs, academics, lawyers, trade union and civil society leaders. The Met said the decision was based on the relative scale of the demonstrations.
Billy Howle, who starred in the TV shows The Perfect Couple and The Serpent and also signed the letter, said: “The shocking decision of the police to exclusively favour a far-right demonstration and block this important annual commemoration from the political heart of London will send shivers down the spines of every person of good conscience. It must be overturned.”
The letter says that the pro-Palestine movement informed the force on 18 December of its intention to march on the nearest Saturday to Nakba Day, in keeping with a tradition dating back more than a decade, but that the Met has “instead given over the political centre of London to a hate march called by racist thug ‘Tommy Robinson’”. It calls on the force to “immediately reverse this shameful decision”.
Keir Starmer refuses to be outcnuted by Nigel Farage’s chasing the racist bigot vote.Climate science denier Nigel Farage explains that it’s simple to blame asylum-seekers or Muslims for everything.Nigel Farage blames the Muzzies.
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’.
A Metropolitan Police sign on the side of a police vehicle
LAWYERS have submitted a formal complaint asking the Metropolitan Police’s counterterrorism unit to investigate current and former directors of Elbit Systems UK for complicity in war crimes.
The Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), with the support of the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), has asked the force to look into four British nationals who have led the weapons manufacturer at various points since the start of the genocide in Gaza.
Their request was prompted by recent reports that key decision-makers within the government have privately recognised serious crimes and breaches of international law took place in Palestine.
Leaked private messages dating back to 2025 showed Health Secretary Wes Streeting saying he believed the Israel was “committing war crimes before our eyes.”
“Israel’s genocide in Gaza would not be possible without Elbit Systems,” a CAAT spokesperson said.
“Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest arms producer, and Israel is the single largest market for Elbit’s products. It provides 85 per cent of the combat drones used by the Israeli military.”
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir 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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Metropolitan Police officers form a cordon to prevent hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists and trade unionists leaving following a blockade of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to demand that the UK government ceases arms sales to Israel on 28th November 2024 in London, United Kingdom. [Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images]
When the Metropolitan Police declared it would arrest anyone chanting “globalise the intifada” after the Bondi Beach killings in Australia, it did more than just shift the boundaries of public order policing.
It blurred the crucial line between violent incitement and political expression, while openly revealing its own partiality.
Within days, two people were detained in London for simply shouting “intifada” at a protest. This is not about managing risk; it is a blunt attempt to muzzle anti-genocide activism.
Two facts should expose ministers and senior police officers’ inequity.
First, Australian investigators have identified the Bondi attack as inspired by the Islamic State group (IS), not a Palestinian-organised act. Yet, in Britain, politicians, Israeli embassy officials, and media voices have rushed to tie Bondi to a Palestinian protest slogan, offering no evidence but plenty of noise.
Second, our criminal law already contains clear thresholds for when speech becomes criminal. Encouragement of terrorism requires a statement likely to be understood as a direct or indirect call to commit terrorist offences (Terrorism Act), and prosecutions for racially or religiously aggravated public-order offences rest on harm, intent and context (Crime and Disorder Act 1998).
The Crown Prosecution Service and the Terrorism Act set those tests. They are not suggestions to be ignored simply because some elite and lobby groups in the country support illegal Israeli actions.
Banning or policing a slogan by decree turns ambiguity into a weapon.
“Intifada” is an Arabic word, not an Islamic one, meaning “shake off”. In Palestine, it surged in 1987 as a rallying cry to shake off or rise up against Israeli colonial occupation.
Slogans are the language of frustration, not tidy definitions for opponents to twist. When authorities adopt the most hostile interpretation, it paves the way for racist policing and a slide toward authoritarianism.
In Hong Kong in 2019, protesters were arrested for chanting “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” because the Chinese government branded “revolution” as sedition. Now, British police and the government treat “intifada” the same way.
Criminalising the word intifada is only possible because Palestinians have been racialised within the Israeli Zionist framework, which filters their language and political expression through Israeli racist and colonialist lenses.
So a slogan calling for an end to genocide and occupation – actions illegal under international law – is projected as “violent”. The slogan intifada can only be construed as violent to those determined to keep violence alive.
Banning a slogan also has a chilling effect, making it harder for peaceful campaigns to mobilise.
In fact, the repression of the right to a slogan saps organisations that rely on open, public participation while doing little to deter rogue, clandestine individuals.
The predictable result of the ban is the extermination of peaceful mobilisation and the further radicalisation of rogue individuals. Either outcome should make democratic politicians uneasy.
Deeply biased
A grotesque double standard is at play. The new policing stance echoes the demands of pro-Israeli lobbyists and Zionist interests eager to equate a vague slogan with violence.
Meanwhile, British citizens who aid genocide with weapons, money, or rhetoric are often excused as merely expressing political views or grief.
Police actions are both disastrous and deeply biased. The government is suppressing genuine solidarity with an occupied people, while tolerating rhetoric and actions that fuel ethnic hatred, genocide and daily violence against Palestinians.
This selective zeal of suppressing anything highlighting Israeli violations shatters any claim to impartiality and reinforces the charge of institutional racism.
Policing slogans hands a strategic victory to those eager to delegitimise marginalised, oppressed and underprivileged voices.
Hong Kong showed how Chinese authorities seized on a slogan, exaggerated its most alarming meaning, and used it to justify prosecutions that suffocated dissent.
London is following the same script – stoke fear, blur the line between protest and terror and make arrests routine. The end result is a democracy that punishes words while quietly supporting violence abroad.
If governments and police genuinely feared violence on our streets, they would follow the evidence.
They would investigate those British citizens who travel to fight, stop sending weapons to parties accused of international crimes and prosecute those backing illegal occupation, starvation and genocide, instead of criminalising vague political speech that calls for justice and peace.
The solution is both simple and urgent. Police chiefs must show how their new approach aligns with the legal standards set by parliament and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Ministers must resist turning politics into a security game to please powerful lobbies. Courts must remember that criminal law is not a stage for political drama.
Democracy endures because we tolerate uncomfortable, even ugly, speech. Democracy withers when the state decides which Arabic words are dangerous and whose voices are silenced.
We all agree that violent terrorism and hate must be eradicated. That is exactly why the law must be applied fairly.
Arresting people for chanting a vague slogan like “globalise the intifada”, without any plan for violence, is repression masquerading as public safety, and it is anti-Palestinian racism.
This article was first published at Middle East Eye on 23 December 2025
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir 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.
Take Back Power protesters outside Parliament, February 2026 [Pic: Will Colebourne]
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
