Met Police accused of reversing Palestine Action policy to fit previous arrests
London’s Metropolitan Police has been accused of reversing its policy on Palestine Action protests to "retrospectively fit" arrests it has carried out in recent weeks.
Following a High Court ruling in February that found the government's ban of the direct action group to be unlawful, the police said they would refrain from arresting its supporters and people protesting against the proscription under terrorism legislation, focusing instead on gathering evidence for future prosecutions.
But in a policy u-turn, the Met issued a statement describing its previous comments as an “interim position”, saying that it has now “revised” this approach.
According to campaign group Defend our Juries (DOJ), since the High Court ruling on 13 February the Met has conducted two arrests under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act for holding signs in support of the proscribed group.
One of those protesters, who wishes to be identified by the name Ams, told Middle East Eye that she was arrested at the annual Al-Quds Day rally in London on 15 March for holding a sign that read: “I still oppose genocide, I still support Palestine Action".
She said that she was "surrounded" by police shortly after a member of the controversial pro-Israel group Campaign Against Antisemitism photographed her and sent the image to the force.
Police had issued a warning to demonstrators before the protest that they would arrest people expressing support for Palestine Action or for chanting calls for an intifada.
But Ams said her arresting officers seemed confused about how to respond.
“I think it took them a long time to realise what they were going to do with me,” Ams told MEE.
“It took them about 15 minutes and lots of radio calls to different departments trying to figure out whether it was an arrestable offence, because they said they weren't going to arrest people for those signs.”
Symptomatic of chaos
DOJ said it wrote to Met Commissioner Mark Rowley following Ams' arrest, asking him to clarify his policy. The letter went unanswered.
On 22 March, the group wrote again, announcing its intention to “proceed to plan peaceful protests against genocide, and against the weaponisation of terrorism legislation against the opponents of genocide, on the basis that the Met's policy remains as set out in your published statement of 13 February”.
The Met only responded on Thursday, pointing to its public statement reversing policy the day before, with Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman saying: “I hope that is self-explanatory and addresses your questions”.
'You would expect the police to have to be consistent with what they published'
– Tim Crosland, former government lawyer
“Rather than admit that the arrest of a woman under the Terrorism Act on 15 March breached their own policy, they have now changed the policy to try to make it fit retrospectively. That’s just embarrassing,” a DOJ spokesperson said.
Tim Crosland, a former government lawyer, told MEE: “You would expect the police to have to be consistent with what they published. They've not felt the need to justify this in any way.
“There’s a slight echo here: one of the reasons for the proscription being struck down was that the home secretary has failed to follow her own policy,” Crosland added.
“And here you have the police’s failure to follow their own policy. It feels symptomatic of this kind of chaos; nobody knows where they stand.”
The second arrested protestor, who wishes to be identified as Liesbeth, said she was arrested while waiting to board a Eurostar train from a platform in St Pancras station on 13 February.
She was told she was being arrested under Section 13 for offences allegedly committed at a protest on 9 August in support of Palestine Action.
Liesbeth said she had already been arrested for the same offence during the protest, and was still awaiting charges.
Before her second arrest in February, she had received a summons to a bail hearing, which she could not attend as she is currently residing in the Netherlands. However, her arresting officers did not cite this as the reason for her arrest.
She was remanded to custody in a prison cell overnight and attended a court hearing the next day.
Liesbeth said that the Crown Prosecution Service had not prepared her charge papers, so her case was adjourned to a few days later. But when she returned, the documentation was still not ready.
Liesbeth was subsequently released and the hearing adjourned until July.
Government appeal hearing next month
The Court of Appeal is due to hear the government’s appeal against the High Court ruling on 28 and 29 April.
DOJ said that it is now expecting "more mass arrests" to be conducted under the Terrorism Act at an upcoming vigil defying the ban on 11 April.
Following Palestine Action's proscription in July 2025, more than 1,600 people have been arrested under terrorism legislation for expressing support for the group.
The arrests account for the majority of some 1,800 terrorism arrests conducted in 2025, representing a year-on-year increase of 660 percent, according to Home Office figures.
Multiple rights groups have warned that the ban constitutes a misuse of counterterrorism legislation, and risks undermining human rights such as freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.
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