The organization was banned last month after its members broke into an airbase and vandalized two military planes

Police arrest a protester during a pro-Palestine demonstration in London, July 12, 2025. ©  Martin Pope / Getty Images

More than 70 people were arrested across the UK on Saturday on suspicion of supporting the activist group Palestine Action, which was recently designated a terrorist organization.

The Metropolitan Police said 41 people were arrested in London, where protesters gathered in Parliament Square to demonstrate against Israel’s war in Gaza. Some held signs reading “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” Arrests were also made in Manchester, Cardiff, and Leeds.

It has been illegal to be a member of Palestine Action or to show support for the group since Saturday, when the new designation came into effect.

 

On Friday, the High Court rejected an attempt by the group’s co-founder, Huda Ammori, to suspend the ban. Ammori’s lawyer, Raza Husain, called the decision “an ill-considered, discriminatory and authoritarian abuse of statutory power.”

 

Parliament voted to crack down on the pro-Palestinian group after its activists broke into the Royal Air Force base at Brize Norton in central England in June and sprayed red paint on two military planes used for refueling and transport. The activists claimed at the time that the aircraft supported surveillance flights “in support of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”

More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military operation in response to the deadly Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.