Ana Vracar
New arrests of Palestine solidarity activists on October 31 brought the total number of arrests related to the Palestine Action ban in Britain to over 4,000, advocacy groups warned on Saturday.
The arrests were made during an action in front of the US embassy in London, as law enforcement agencies once again decided to charge protesters holding signs expressing their opposition to the genocide in Gaza. The action was mirrored in the proximity of the US consulate in Edinburgh, where no arrests were made on the day.
Since July 2025 – when Keir Starmer’s government proscribed direct action group Palestine Action – police forces around the country have disrupted peaceful protests against the ban. This has led to legal consequences for thousands of people, many of them elderly people, public service workers, and healthcare professionals.
A dual action was held in front of US diplomatic offices in London and Edinburgh on Saturday, October 31. Source: Defend Our Juries/Marly Lyman
“Including the arrests so far today, there have been over 4,000 arrests of people under section 11, 12 and 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 for expressing support for Palestine Action, whether for taking part in a vigil, recording an online video message or for encouraging others to support the banned group,” Defend Our Juries stated on Saturday.
“These arrests contributed to a 1,186% rise in the total number of terrorism-related arrests in the year ending March 2026, whilst almost half of all terrorism arrests since 9/11 in the United Kingdom have come in the year to September 2026.”
Activists have claimed former prime minister Starmer imposed the ban at least in part to appease US President Donald Trump, echoing the latter’s strategy of targeting progressives.
“The ban on Palestine Action was straight out of Trump’s playbook, so it’s fitting that this significant milestone has been reached on Halloween and outside the US Embassy, laying bare the terrifying attacks on free speech that this authoritarian ban has unleashed,” Defend Our Juries said.
Many also believe that Palestine Action’s proscription in Britain facilitated the terrorist designation imposed on the organization by the Trump administration in August this year.
Authors And Academics Treated as Terrorists
In Britain, the Palestine Action ban remains contested in court by the group’s co-founder Huda Ammori, and has drawn pronounced criticism for the chilling effect it has had on freedom of expression and the right to protest.
Several examples over the past year have shown these are not trivial concerns. The latest is the barring of left author, academic, and outspoken Palestine solidarity proponent Andreas Malm from entering the UK as he was scheduled to participate in a public event together with Ammori.
On Friday, Tribune reported that the scholar’s travel authorization had been revoked, with the Home Office saying that his “presence in the UK is not considered to be conducive to the public good.”
“He is being censored for speaking out against censorship, in truly Orwellian fashion,” said Tribune editor Oliver Eagleton. “It is shameful that Andy Burnham’s government is continuing the authoritarian overreach we saw under Keir Starmer, and in this dystopian new reality it is now commonplace in Britain for authors and academics to be treated as terrorists because they support Palestinians facing genocide and the rights of people protesting that genocide.”
“This is not an isolated incident – and the government should know that it is gaining a bad reputation for censorship and repression,” Your Party MP Jeremy Corbyn wrote on social media. “We know why the government has taken this decision: because it wants to silence criticism of Israel, as well as its own complicity in genocide. It will not succeed.”
“What future governments might do with this power should frighten us all”
Earlier in October, Irish novelist Sally Rooney announced her books would no longer be available in Britain as a result of her expressed support for Palestine Action.
The announcement triggered mass support for Rooney among authors, poets, and editors, who said it is unconscionable that “a government can now effectively ban a single author for protesting that government’s own conflation of protest with terrorism.”
“What future governments might do with this power should frighten us all.”
“I can’t say that I am standing up for the children of Wales if I allow the children of Gaza to be murdered and mutilated without comment,” said Nicola Davies, the Children’s Laureate for Wales, announcing her decision to donate royalties from one of her books to Rooney.
“Gaza is smaller than the Welsh county of Flintshire and it’s as if all Wales children were concentrated there and being bombed.”
Courtesy: Breakthrough News
The arrests were made during an action in front of the US embassy in London, as law enforcement agencies once again decided to charge protesters holding signs expressing their opposition to the genocide in Gaza. The action was mirrored in the proximity of the US consulate in Edinburgh, where no arrests were made on the day.
Since July 2025 – when Keir Starmer’s government proscribed direct action group Palestine Action – police forces around the country have disrupted peaceful protests against the ban. This has led to legal consequences for thousands of people, many of them elderly people, public service workers, and healthcare professionals.
A dual action was held in front of US diplomatic offices in London and Edinburgh on Saturday, October 31. Source: Defend Our Juries/Marly Lyman“Including the arrests so far today, there have been over 4,000 arrests of people under section 11, 12 and 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 for expressing support for Palestine Action, whether for taking part in a vigil, recording an online video message or for encouraging others to support the banned group,” Defend Our Juries stated on Saturday.
“These arrests contributed to a 1,186% rise in the total number of terrorism-related arrests in the year ending March 2026, whilst almost half of all terrorism arrests since 9/11 in the United Kingdom have come in the year to September 2026.”
Activists have claimed former prime minister Starmer imposed the ban at least in part to appease US President Donald Trump, echoing the latter’s strategy of targeting progressives.
“The ban on Palestine Action was straight out of Trump’s playbook, so it’s fitting that this significant milestone has been reached on Halloween and outside the US Embassy, laying bare the terrifying attacks on free speech that this authoritarian ban has unleashed,” Defend Our Juries said.
Many also believe that Palestine Action’s proscription in Britain facilitated the terrorist designation imposed on the organization by the Trump administration in August this year.
Authors And Academics Treated as Terrorists
In Britain, the Palestine Action ban remains contested in court by the group’s co-founder Huda Ammori, and has drawn pronounced criticism for the chilling effect it has had on freedom of expression and the right to protest.
Several examples over the past year have shown these are not trivial concerns. The latest is the barring of left author, academic, and outspoken Palestine solidarity proponent Andreas Malm from entering the UK as he was scheduled to participate in a public event together with Ammori.
On Friday, Tribune reported that the scholar’s travel authorization had been revoked, with the Home Office saying that his “presence in the UK is not considered to be conducive to the public good.”
“He is being censored for speaking out against censorship, in truly Orwellian fashion,” said Tribune editor Oliver Eagleton. “It is shameful that Andy Burnham’s government is continuing the authoritarian overreach we saw under Keir Starmer, and in this dystopian new reality it is now commonplace in Britain for authors and academics to be treated as terrorists because they support Palestinians facing genocide and the rights of people protesting that genocide.”
“This is not an isolated incident – and the government should know that it is gaining a bad reputation for censorship and repression,” Your Party MP Jeremy Corbyn wrote on social media. “We know why the government has taken this decision: because it wants to silence criticism of Israel, as well as its own complicity in genocide. It will not succeed.”
“What future governments might do with this power should frighten us all”
Earlier in October, Irish novelist Sally Rooney announced her books would no longer be available in Britain as a result of her expressed support for Palestine Action.
The announcement triggered mass support for Rooney among authors, poets, and editors, who said it is unconscionable that “a government can now effectively ban a single author for protesting that government’s own conflation of protest with terrorism.”
“What future governments might do with this power should frighten us all.”
“I can’t say that I am standing up for the children of Wales if I allow the children of Gaza to be murdered and mutilated without comment,” said Nicola Davies, the Children’s Laureate for Wales, announcing her decision to donate royalties from one of her books to Rooney.
“Gaza is smaller than the Welsh county of Flintshire and it’s as if all Wales children were concentrated there and being bombed.”
Courtesy: Breakthrough News
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