Police made 150 arrests as protesters gathered in central London to show support for Palestine Action, despite it being banned as a terrorist group.
The organization “Protect Our Jurors,” which organized the action, reported that between 600 and 700 people gathered in Parliament Square on Saturday afternoon.
The Metropolitan Police said they would detain anyone who expressed support for the Palestinian movement.
At 1pm, a crowd sitting on the grass in Parliament Square wrote on white placards: “I am against genocide, I support the Palestinian cause,” but most participants remained silent.
Several protesters, holding signs that read “Palestinian actions terrorise Britain while Hamas hides in hospitals, schools and mosques”, walked briefly along the crowd before being led away by security forces.
Other groups of protesters, without holding signs, gathered around the statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela in the square and chanted slogans in support of Palestine.
Police detained individual protesters sitting on the edge of the grass and then marched them through the growing crowd to police vans parked at the edge of the square.
A separate group of officers helped a protester lying next to a fenced-off statue of Emmeline Pankhurst.
Later they began arresting protesters sitting in the centre of Parliament Square.
Police lifted protesters – some sitting and some lying – from the ground before leading them away.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
