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London's Metropolitan Police arrested at least 139 people on Saturday, Oct. 31, at a protest outside the US Embassy in support of Palestine Action, Al Jazeera reported. The total had stood at 48 earlier in the day.
The Met said on X that "the majority of arrests have been for expressing support for a proscribed organisation." The Associated Press, carried by CBS News, reported that more than 100 people took part and that officers were still making arrests at the scene.
The UK government outlawed Palestine Action as a terrorist organization in July 2025. It is listed alongside groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL. Support for the group is a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The organizer, Defend Our Juries, says more than 4,000 people have been detained since the ban for defying it. The group argues the ban exists to appease the United States and the Israeli weapons companies Palestine Action targeted, not to counter a terrorist threat.
A related vigil outside the US Consulate in Edinburgh produced no reported arrests. Police Scotland said it was reviewing evidence and could take further action.
The arrests came days before the UK Supreme Court hears an appeal against the group's terrorism designation, set for Wednesday, Nov. 4. Labour MP John McDonnell said the government made the wrong decision and that protesting against the ban cannot automatically be read as support for the group. Amnesty International UK has called on the government to drop the proscription.
The ban followed direct action by the group. Activists broke into RAF Brize Norton on June 20, 2025, and damaged two tanker planes, AP reported at the time. A protest in Parliament Square on Aug. 9, 2025, led to 365 arrests, according to the same report.
The US government sanctioned Palestine Action as a terrorist group in August.
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