Police in London said that 139 people were arrested at a demonstration Saturday outside the U.S. Embassy in support of the banned protest group Palestine Action.
The majority of those arrested had expressed outward support for the organization, which was banned and proscribed as a terrorist organization in the United Kingdom in July 2025. The ban makes membership or public support for the group a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Several of the demonstrators held up signs explicitly proclaiming “Support Palestine Action,” authorities said.
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Photo and video from the protest show one demonstrator in a tree outside the embassy building holding a sign that read “God help us. Teachers who support Palestine. Palestine Action.”
The protests come just days before a scheduled appeal of the ban on Palestine Action before the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on Wednesday.
Opponents of the ban say it is a flagrant attack on freedom of speech, while authorities have said the ban was necessary following a break-in by the group into RAF Brize Norton air base last year.
The group also organized a break-in of the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems UK, smashing proprietary equipment with crowbars and sledgehammers.
At least 4,000 people have been detained for violating the ban, according to activist organization Defend Our Juries.
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