London police arrest 150 pro-Palestinian protesters
London's Metropolitan Police said that officers are steadily working through the crowd, making further arrests.
Backers of Palestine Action have staged a series of protests across the UK since early July, when parliament outlawed the group and prohibited anyone from publicly showing support for it.
Politicians banned the group as a terrorist organisation after activists broke into a Royal Air Force base and vandalised two tanker aircraft.
Protesters gathered on Saturday afternoon in the square outside parliament, with dozens displaying signs reading: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action".
That was enough for the police to step in.
"Within this crowd a significant number of people are displaying placards expressing support for Palestine Action, which is a proscribed group," the Metropolitan Police Service said on X.
"Officers have moved in and are making arrests."
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper moved to ban Palestine Action after activists broke into a British air force base in southern England on June 20 to protest British military support for Israel's war with Hamas.
The activists sprayed red paint into the engines of two tanker planes at the RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire and caused further damage with crowbars.
Palestine Action had previously targeted Israeli defence contractors and other sites in Britain that they believe have links with the Israeli military.
Supporters of the group are challenging the ban in court, saying the government has gone too far in declaring Palestine Action a terrorist organisation.
"Once the meaning of terrorism is separated from campaigns of violence against a civilian population, and extended to include those causing economic damage or embarrassment to the rich, the powerful and the criminal, then the right to freedom of expression has no meaning and democracy is dead," the group Defend Our Juries said on its website.
The arrests outside parliament came amid what is expected to be a busy weekend of demonstrations in London as the war in Gaza and concerns about immigration spur protests and counter-protests across the United Kingdom.
While Prime Minister Keir Starmer has angered Israel with plans to recognise a Palestinian state later this year, many Palestinian supporters in Britain criticise the government for not doing enough to end the war in Gaza.
Pro-Palestinian protesters were gathering Saturday afternoon in central London for a march that is scheduled to end outside the gates of No. 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's official residence and offices.
On Sunday, several groups are scheduled to march through central London to demand the safe release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza.
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The UN and most world powers say settlement expansion has eroded the viability of a two-state solution by fragmenting Palestinian territory. Israel disputes this, citing historical and biblical ties to the area, and says the settlements provide strategic depth and security. with Reuters Israel's far-right finance minister has announced a contentious new settlement construction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which Palestinians and rights groups worry will scuttle plans for a future Palestinian state by effectively cutting the West Bank into two separate parts. The announcement comes as many countries say they will recognise a Palestinian state in September. "This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognise and no one to recognise," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Thursday. "Anyone in the world who tries today to recognise a Palestinian state - will receive an answer from us on the ground." 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Settler violence has skyrocketed, from destruction of olive groves and cutting water and electricity in communities, to incendiary attacks on Christian holy sites. Rights groups swiftly condemned the E1 plan. Peace Now called it "deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution" that was "guaranteeing many more years of bloodshed". The announcement comes as the Palestinian Authority and Arab countries condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement in an interview on Tuesday that he was "very" attached to the vision of a Greater Israel. He did not elaborate, but supporters of the idea believe that Israel should control not only the occupied West Bank but parts of Arab countries. About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognised by most countries but has not formally extended sovereignty over the West Bank. 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The UN and most world powers say settlement expansion has eroded the viability of a two-state solution by fragmenting Palestinian territory. Israel disputes this, citing historical and biblical ties to the area, and says the settlements provide strategic depth and security. with Reuters
