The Met has warned anyone planning to attend a demonstration in support of Palestine Action in central London this Saturday that they face arrest as part of a robust policing operation.
Officers will be deployed in the vicinity of the US Embassy after the activist group Defend Our Juries announced plans for a mass show of support for Palestine Action. Expressing support for the group is an offence under the Terrorism Act following its proscription in June 2025, a decision upheld by the Court of Appeal in June 2026.
Commander Adam Slonecki, who is leading the policing operation, said: “All those intending on coming to this event know that supporting a proscribed organisation is unlawful – they are essentially meeting to purposefully commit a crime. The public would rightly expect us to be proactive and not just standby and wait for offences to be committed.”
He added: “I want to be clear – it is not just those who hold up placards who should expect to be arrested. 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.”
What the Met says the law covers
The Met’s warning draws a wide net. It is not limited, in the commander’s words, to those holding placards: organisers, people giving instructions, and those providing logistical support are also, in the Met’s view, very likely to be committing an offence and to face enforcement action. The legal basis given by the Met is the Terrorism Act, under which expressing support for a proscribed organisation is an offence — Palestine Action having been proscribed in June 2025, with that decision upheld by the Court of Appeal in June 2026.
At the same time, the commander sought to draw a line between protest and criminality: “This is not about preventing people from expressing their views, but about acting robustly in cases where doing so involves criminality.”
He also pointed to the cost of policing such events: “These events also take significant police resources away from the neighbourhoods and communities where they are most needed. I would urge anyone planning on attending to reconsider.”
The demonstration is planned for Saturday 31 October, with officers deployed in the vicinity of the US Embassy. The Met’s update, issued on Friday, is the latest in a series of warnings ahead of planned Defend Our Juries activity, and follows the pattern of recent policing operations in which area-wide police powers have been deployed in response to disorder and serious cases have proceeded through the courts. Whether Saturday’s event leads to arrests on the scale the Met has warned of will become clear once the demonstration takes place.
