A complete of 890 arrests have been made at an illustration in central London on Saturday towards the banning of the protest group Palestine Motion.
Police arrested 857 folks below the Terrorism Act for displaying help for a proscribed group, whereas 33 folks have been arrested for different offences, together with 17 for assaults on law enforcement officials, the Metropolitan police mentioned.
The pressure mentioned these arrested have been processed at a prisoner reception level within the Westminster space and people whose particulars could possibly be confirmed have been launched on bail to look at a police station at a future date. Those that refused to offer their particulars, or have been discovered to have been arrested whereas already on bail, have been taken to custody suites.
The 857 folks arrested below the Terrorism Act will likely be investigated by the Met’s counter-terrorism command.
An estimated 1,500 folks took half within the protest in Parliament Sq. in Westminster on Saturday. The Met condemned as “insupportable” the abuse it mentioned its officers had suffered, saying they’d “been punched, kicked, spat on and had objects thrown at them by protesters”.
The deputy assistant commissioner Claire Good, who led the policing operation, mentioned on Sunday: “I’d wish to thank all officers concerned in yesterday’s operation for his or her professionalism and tireless work regardless of the extent of abuse that they confronted.
“The violence we encountered throughout the operation was coordinated and carried out by a gaggle of individuals, many sporting masks to hide their identification, intent on creating as a lot dysfunction as attainable. A lot of these people have now been arrested and we now have begun securing prices.
“The distinction between this demonstration and the opposite protests we policed yesterday, together with the Palestine Coalition march attended by round 20,000 folks, was stark. You’ll be able to specific your help for a trigger with out committing an offence below the Terrorism Act or descending into violence and dysfunction, and plenty of hundreds of individuals do this in London each week.
“We have now an obligation to implement the regulation with out concern or favour. When you promote that you’re meaning to commit against the law, we now have no choice however to reply accordingly.”
The protest’s organisers, the marketing campaign group Defend Our Juries (DOJ), mentioned the rally was peaceable and known as on the brand new house secretary, Shabana Mahmood, to drop the “unenforceable” ban.
A spokesperson mentioned: “Fifteen hundred folks completely peacefully defying the ban, holding cardboard indicators in quiet dignity, sends a transparent and highly effective message to the brand new house secretary as she takes up her place: such an unjust regulation which the general public won’t settle for will inevitably should be deserted. These mass acts of defiance will proceed till the ban is lifted.”
On Sunday, the defence secretary, John Healey, mentioned Mahmood can be “simply as robust” on Palestine Motion as her predecessor, Yvette Cooper, who moved to the International Workplace as a part of Keir Starmer’s cupboard reshuffle on Friday.
“If we need to keep away from a two-tier policing and justice system on this nation, when folks break the regulation, there should be penalties,” Healey informed Sky Information’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips. “That’s what was occurring yesterday, and I, we, nearly everyone shares the agony once we see the pictures from Gaza, the anguish once we see the man-made hunger, and for individuals who need to voice their concern and protest, I applaud them. However that doesn’t require them to hyperlink it to help for Palestine Motion, a proscribed group.”
Palestine Motion was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in July after the group claimed duty for an motion during which two Voyager planes have been broken at RAF Brize Norton on 20 June.
