The Metropolitan Police arrested 139 people outside the US embassy in south-west London on Saturday, most of them for showing support for Palestine Action, a group that has been banned as a terrorist organisation in the UK since mid-2025.
The Met gave the figure on X shortly after 6pm on 31 October and said further arrests were expected, so the final total may be higher. A smaller vigil was held outside the US consulate in Edinburgh at the same time.
What happened at Nine Elms
Protesters began gathering outside the embassy in Nine Elms from late morning and arrests started shortly after 12.30pm, ITV News reported. Many held placards stating that they opposed genocide and supported Palestine Action; others carried signs saying they were protesters, not terrorists, and some waved Palestinian flags. One person climbed a tree outside the building.
Those detained were led to police vans and taken to stations across the capital. Police had imposed a dispersal order covering parts of London, including around the embassy, from 8am to 11pm, giving officers power to order people to leave or face arrest.
Defend Our Juries, the campaign group that organised the event, estimated that around 400 people attended. The Irish Times reported that one woman was arrested for holding a sign adapted from a social media post by a journalist which police had previously judged did not cross the criminal threshold.
Police and campaigners clash over the ban
Under the Terrorism Act, it is a criminal offence to express support for a proscribed organisation. Commander Adam Slonecki, who led the policing operation, said that people attending were essentially meeting in order to commit a crime. Scotland Yard has also complained that such protests pull officers away from local neighbourhoods.
Defend Our Juries described the police response as overzealous. It says more than 4,000 people have now been arrested for supporting Palestine Action since the ban took effect, a figure it called “truly dystopian”. That number comes from the campaign and has not been independently confirmed. The group argues the ban is about pleasing Washington and arms manufacturers rather than any genuine terrorist threat. Ministers have defended the ban as necessary.
Among those taking part was Charles Allison, a 75-year-old retired lawyer from Cumbria, who told ITV News he believed the ban was unlawful and that he had broken the law deliberately because he felt he had no other choice.
Why the group was banned
Palestine Action, which targeted defence firms with direct action, was proscribed in June 2025 by then home secretary Yvette Cooper. The ban has been through a legal rollercoaster since. In February this year, three High Court judges ruled the decision unlawful in a challenge brought by co-founder Huda Ammori. In June, the Court of Appeal overturned that ruling, finding the ban a justified and proportionate limit on free expression. The US government has since designated the group as a terrorist organisation too.
The political pressure has not gone away. Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government has kept the ban in place, with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood backing it, while critics including some Labour members want it lifted.
The Irish angle
The row has reached into Irish culture too. The Irish Times noted that novelist Sally Rooney, who has publicly backed Palestine Action, can no longer sell her books in the UK as a result, and former president Mary Robinson has defended supporters of the Palestinian cause, including Rooney, against criticism. There is no equivalent ban in Ireland.
What happens next
Those arrested on Saturday will be released on bail, charged or have no further action taken, depending on police and prosecutor decisions; anyone charged is presumed innocent unless convicted. The bigger moment comes on Wednesday 4 November, when the UK Supreme Court is due to hear an appeal against Palestine Action’s proscription. Its eventual ruling will decide whether thousands of arrests made since July 2025 rest on solid legal ground. Campaigners have signalled more protests in the meantime.
Sources
- Irish Times: Almost 140 arrested at protest against Palestine Action ban outside US embassy in London (31 October 2026)
- ITV News: Dozens arrested outside US embassy after showing support for Palestine Action (31 October 2026)
Featured image: New Embassy of the United States of America in Battersea Nine Elms, London, seen from Pimlico by Curran2, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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