Protesters taking part in a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London, October 4, 2025
Campaigners condemned government’s plan to give police new powers to crack down on protests
CAMPAIGNERS have condemned the government’s mounting authoritarianism after it was announced yesterday that police will be granted new powers to crack down on protests.
The measures follow a mass demonstration in support of proscribed campaign group Palestine Action in which nearly 500 people were arrested in central London on Saturday for peacefully holding signs.
The government plans to amend sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 so that police can consider the “cumulative impact” of protests.
Under the changes, police could instruct organisers to hold protests elsewhere if a site has seen repeated demonstrations.
…
Ms Mahmood said that “large repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe” and that this was evident in the Jewish community.
On Friday she called for pro-Palestine protesters to “step back” from demonstrations following an attack on a Manchester synagogue in which two people were killed the day before.
Yesterday Stop the War accused the government of weaponising the attack to ramp up its crackdown on the Palestine movement.
The group’s convener, Lindsey German, said: “We condemn the attack on the Manchester synagogue, just as we condemn recent attacks on mosques and hotels accommodating asylum-seekers.
“We wholeheartedly reject the implication that our peaceful marches are in any way responsible for the attack.
“Stop the War has never conflated Israel’s illegal actions with the British Jewish community and will continue to vociferously oppose any attempt to do so.”
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.Vote Labour for Genocide.Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.
Thousands gather for a march ahead of the second anniversary of the war in Gaza, on October 5, 2025, in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu via Getty Images)
US Rep. Ro Khanna demanded that Israel release American flotilla member David Adler, whose family has not heard from him since October 1.
US Congressman Ro Khanna on Sunday demanded the Israeli government’s release of David Adler, a US citizen who was one of the organizers intercepted by Israeli forces last week after they came close to breaking the country’s blockade on Gaza with the Global Sumud Flotilla.
As Marco Sermoneta, Israel’s consul general to the Pacific Northwest in the US, dismissed reports that humanitarians who were aboard the flotilla’s 50 boats are being deprived of food and water and mistreated in an Israeli detention center, Khanna (D-Calif.) called on the diplomat to confirm that Adler, a California resident, is a safe.
“I am most concerned about David Adler, a Californian and Jewish American, who is in the Ketziot prison,” said Khanna. “I spoke to his sister last night and their family is deeply anxious. Can you assure us he will be released and sent home safely?”
Khanna said Saturday that Adler’s family has not had contact with him since October 1, the day before a majority of the flotilla’s boats were stopped from reaching Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid.
The congressman said he plans to lead a delegation letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Leiter on Monday and expressed hope that “every colleague, particularly every California member, will sign.”
“Our government must stand up for an American citizen’s fair treatment and release,” said Khanna.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Saturday that 137 of the rights advocates who were aboard the flotilla had been deported to Turkey; they were from the United Kingdom, Italy, and the United States.
More than 400 humanitarians, lawmakers, and lawyers were aboard the vessels, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who told Swedish officials Saturday that she has been “subjected to harsh treatment in Israeli custody” in recent days.
The Guardian obtained correspondence from Sweden’s Foreign Ministry that described Israeli authorities taking photos of the climate campaigner “holding flags,” the identity of which was not reported.
“The embassy has been able to meet with Greta,” reads an email sent by the Foreign Ministry to people close to Thunberg and viewed by The Guardian. “She informed of dehydration. She has received insufficient amounts of both water and food. She also stated that she had developed rashes which she suspects were caused by bedbugs. She spoke of harsh treatment and said she had been sitting for long periods on hard surfaces.”
Turkish activist Ersin Çelik, who also participated in the Sumud flotilla, told Anadolu that Israeli authorities “dragged little Greta by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others.”
Another humanitarian told reporters that the Sumud flotilla campaigners had been “woken up at 3 in the morning with dogs and snipers walking into our rooms” and prevented from having medicine.
JUST IN: A Turkish activist from the Sumud Flotilla speaks out:
Israelis prevented us from having medicine, they only gave us water after 32 hours. We barely had any food.
We were woken up at 3 in the morning with dogs and snipers walking into our rooms, they woke us up every… pic.twitter.com/fDF8jI2gVh
“If Netanyahu’s government is treating Greta Thunberg this way, imagine how they are treating women and children in Gaza,” said Khanna on Sunday.
Talks on a peace plan between Israel and Hamas, proposed last week by US President Donald Trump, are scheduled to begin Monday in Egypt. Hamas has said it is willing to release the remaining hostages the group has been holding captive in Gaza since October 7, 2023 in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians detained by Israel.
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people across Europe marched in solidarity with the flotilla members and with Gaza, where more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel—with the backing of the US and a number of European governments—since October 2023.
Organizers in Rome said 1 million people turned out for the demonstration that was planned after Israel’s interception of the flotilla; police said 250,000 people marched. Spanish campaigners said hundreds of thousands of people rallied in every major city in the country, while smaller protests were reported in cities including Paris, Lisbon, Athens, and London.
Families attended a rally in Barcelona—whose former mayor, Ada Colau, was among the participants in the flotilla—and held signs with messages including, “Stop the Genocide,” and “Hands off the flotilla.”
Hundreds of thousands turn out at pro-Palestine marches across Europe, demanding immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of flotilla activists trying to get aid to enclave.
On Sunday, protests in support of the flotilla and Gaza continued in countries including South Africa and Amsterdam.
Aaron Bastani of Novara Mediasaid it was likely not “a coincidence that David Adler remains in prison, has not been in contact with his family, and has reputedly suffered significant ill treatment.”
“The biggest problem for [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and the Israeli right, long term,” said Bastani, “is anti-Zionist Jewish Americans.”
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 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/O74hZCKKdpAOrcas 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.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.
Speaking at the 2025 Green Party Conference, Zack Polanski has called on the government to reverse the proscription of Palestine Action:
.@ZackPolanski: "The proscription of Palestine Action must be withdrawn & every parliamentarian who failed to vote against it needs to hang their heads in shame"
A reminder that 385 MPs voted to ban PA & every LibDem, Plaid & SNP MP abstained. Only 22 MPs voted against) pic.twitter.com/BSe193oo28
Polanski was addressing Green Party members at the 2025 conference:
Loud applause for @ZackPolanski at the Green Party Conference: “You cannot be an effective environmentalist without talking about the deep inequality in our society.” pic.twitter.com/ZOtNd78A43
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.Vote Labour for Genocide.
UK’s new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced that she will introduce laws further attacking and eroding the right to protest to enshrine Zionism into UK law. Institutionalized religious segregation and discrimination is a political system known as Theocracy.
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.
Ministers are to give police new powers to target repeated protests, aimed particularly at cracking down on demonstrations connected to Gaza, the Home Office has said.
The announcement, made the morning after almost 500 people were arrested in London for expressing support for Palestine Action, a proscribed organisation, could allow police to order regular protests to take place at a different site.
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, will also look at all anti-protest laws, with the possibility that powers to ban some protests outright could be strengthened.
…
If a protest has caused what a Home Office statement called “repeated disorder” at the same site for repeated weeks, police would be able to order the organisers to move it elsewhere, with anyone who fails to obey risking arrest.
Mahmood, the statement added, would “also review existing legislation to ensure that powers are sufficient and being consistently applied”, including police powers to ban some protests completely.
…
The powers appear to be aimed at both mass pro-Gaza demonstrations, which took place in London and some other cities over a period of weeks, and those held to support Palestine Action.
On Saturday, police arrested about 500 people at the latest such protest. It took place despite ministers, including Keir Starmer, asking that it be postponed following this week’s deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester.
Mahmood indicated that this was directly connected to the proposed extra powers, saying: “It’s been clear to me in conversations in the last couple of days that there is a gap in the law and there is an inconsistency of practice.”
She continued: “I’ll be taking measures immediately to put that right, and I will be reviewing our wider protest legislation as well to make sure the arrangements we have can meet the scale of the challenge that we face, which is protecting the right to protest, but ensuring that our communities can go about their daily business without feeling intimidated, and also that public order can be maintained.”
…
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/O74hZCKKdpAPalestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.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 taking part in a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London, October 4, 2025
