The Metropolitan Police had arrested at least 139 people outside the US embassy in south London by 6.15pm on Saturday, the force said, as hundreds of demonstrators sat holding signs in defiance of the ban on Palestine Action. The Met said arrests were continuing.
The protest, organised by Defend Our Juries, took place four days before the Supreme Court is due to hear an appeal against the proscription, listed to begin on 4 November. The organisers say the day's arrests took the number of people detained for supporting the group since the ban to more than 4,000, a campaigners' count rather than an official figure.
The Met said most of those arrested were held on suspicion of showing support for a proscribed organisation. An earlier police update had put the total at 48.
Defend Our Juries said about 400 people sat outside the embassy in Nine Elms from lunchtime holding signs reading "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action". Early reports from the Associated Press and the Guardian put the crowd at more than 100. No police estimate has been published.
Those arrested were taken to police vans parked on Ponton Road, beside the embassy grounds, before being moved to police stations, the Press Association reported. Novara Media reported that officers carried people onto a bus.
A Defend Our Juries spokesperson told Novara Media that so many people had defied the ban that police had to bring in a bus to take more of them to the police station, something the group said it had never seen before. The Met has not said why a bus was used.
The force had warned before the event that anyone attending risked arrest. Commander Adam Slonecki, who led the operation, said "anyone officers consider to be playing a key role in organising the event, giving instructions to others and/or providing logistical support will very likely be committing an offence and face enforcement action". A dispersal order covered the embassy grounds and surrounding streets from 8am to 11pm.
Defend Our Juries alleged on social media that officers began making arrests before any signs were displayed, and that volunteers supporting those holding signs and people carrying blank placards were among those detained. The Met has not responded to those allegations.
A spokesman for the group said: "It is truly dystopian that there have now been over 4,000 arrests under terror laws for peaceful vigils silently expressing opposition to genocide and support for the protest group Palestine Action."
Felix Jakens, head of communications and campaigns at Amnesty International UK, said: "The sight yet again of grandparents, teenagers and everyone in between being hauled into police vans for peacefully holding placards is a disgraceful attack on freedom of speech."
Sue Morhall, 79, who was among the protesters, told the Guardian: "The US is complicit in most of the wars that are going on."
Palestine Action was proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000 in 2025, making membership of or support for the group an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. The High Court ruled the ban unlawful earlier this year, but it stayed in force pending appeal, and the Court of Appeal upheld it in June. The Supreme Court has granted the group's co-founder, Huda Ammori, permission to appeal.
A parallel vigil outside the US consulate in Edinburgh passed without reported arrests. Police Scotland said it was working to identify people who wore T-shirts and held banners in support of a proscribed organisation. "Evidence is being reviewed and further action will be taken as appropriate," the force said.
The Met has not yet given a final arrest total for Saturday or a breakdown of the offences involved.
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