LONDON: British prime minister Keir Starmer faces mounting criticism after hundreds of people were detained during a demonstration in Parliament Square in London at the weekend against the government’s decision to ban Palestine Action.
The Metropolitan Police said officers arrested 532 people on Saturday, 522 of them for displaying items in support of the proscribed group. A breakdown of the arrest figures released on Sunday revealed that 348 of those apprehended were age 50 or over, The Independent newspaper reported.
The protest, organized by Defend Our Juries, an organization that “supports collective action to expose this corruption of democracy and the rule of law,” took place after ministers warned they would take action against anyone who showed public support for Palestine Action, which was designated a terrorist organization last month.
Victims minister Alex Davies-Jones defended the crackdown, saying: “The right to peacefully protest in this country is a cornerstone of our democracy, and of course we respect that. But with regards to Palestine Action, they are a proscribed terrorist organization and their actions have not been peaceful.
“They have violently carried out criminal damage to RAF aircraft. We have credible reports of them targeting Jewish-owned businesses here in the United Kingdom, and there are other reasons which we can’t disclose because of national security.
