Met Police issue arrest warning for 'mass' pro-Palestine Action protest outside US Embassy in London

The Met Police has issued an arrest warning ahead of a planned “mass” pro-Palestine protest in London today.

Activist group Defend Our Juries is planning a protest outside the US embassy in Battersea on Saturday, calling for the government to lift its ban on proscribed terrorist group Palestine Action.

Organisers of the protest have claimed the proscription of Palestine Action is a “huge attack on our democratic right to protest”, especially in the midst of what it describes as “a genocide which our government is participating in.”

Protesters gather outside Labour Party conference in Liverpool

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Palestine Action was proscribed in June 2025 under the Terrorism Act 2000, making membership in, material support for, or displaying items in support of the group a criminal offence in the UK. Despite calls for the ban to be lifted, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision earlier this year.

The Met Police has warned that anyone planning to attend the demonstration on Saturday could face arrest as a result.

In a police update, the force said officers would be deployed in the vicinity of the area as part of a robust policing operation.

The force warned that it is not “just those who hold up placards who should expect to be arrested” and that anybody considered to be playing a key role in organising the event would be seen as likely to be committing an offence.

Defend Our Juries described as “mass-action” and told the Standard that 400 people had signed up to attend on Saturday.

A Defend Our Juries protest outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool in September

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More than 50 people were arrested outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool

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Of those, 50 demonstrators were arrested for their support of Palestine Action.

Calling protesters to action, the group said on its website: “The new Prime Minister has chosen not to issue a statement about the 230 brave individuals who defied Labour’s unjust ban outside his first conference as PM, 161 of whom were arrested under the Terrorism Act for holding paper signs.”

In a briefing document provided by Defend Our Juries, the protest is expected to commence at 1pm on public land outside the US Embassy in Battersea.

The document includes guidance on signage and placarding and advice on how to avoid being stopped by police en route to the protest.

Organisers have also suggested for protesters to “go floppy” and to withhold details from police if they are arrested.

The document also contains key legal information to prepare protesters for the demonstration.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said: "We are visiting the US embassy in London and US consulate in Edinburgh tomorrow to further highlight not only the 'Trumpian' nature of this unprecedented attack on free expression in our country, we will also expose what the ban on Palestine Action has always been about, appeasing Trump after Palestine Action spray painted his golf course and appeasing the Israeli weapons companies which Palestine Action disrupted.

“What better time than Halloween to expose the terrifying reality of this authoritarian overreach and its dystopian consequences."