Police detained 29 individuals in London on Saturday on suspicion of terrorism-related offenses for expressing support for the Palestine Action group that was recently outlawed in the U.K.
The demonstrators gathered in Parliament Square hours after the British government banned Palestine Action and designated it a terrorist organization.
The detainee held signs reading, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” The Telegraph reported.
Police warned the demonstrators that expressions of support for the proscribed organization constituted a criminal offence, and arrests were made after the warning was ignored, the newspaper reported.
“Officers are responding to a protest in support of Palestine Action in Parliament Square. The group is now proscribed, and expressing support for them is a criminal offence. Arrests are being made,” a police spokesperson told the paper.
The Home Office proscribed Palestine Action on Saturday following a vote Wednesday in the House of Commons, where the banning was passed 385–26. The House of Lords also backed the ban, and the Court of Appeal in London on Friday rejected an appeal to block the ban.
The decision to ban Palestine Action followed vandalism by its members of two Voyager refueling planes at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on June 20 by spraying paint into their engines, resulting in about $9.5 million in damage.
