Seven charged in London after protest in support of Palestine Action group

Seven people have been charged on Tuesday following a protest in London in support of Palestine Action, a campaign organisation the British government has proposed to ban under anti-terrorism laws.

The ban, which was announced on Monday and will be laid before parliament next week, would make it a criminal offence to belong to the group after its activists damaged two UK military planes in protest at London’s support for Israel.

Palestine Action, which called the ban “an unhinged reaction”, on Monday was forced to change the location of a planned protest to London’s Trafalgar Square after police banned it from staging a demonstration outside parliament.

The Metropolitan Police said although the protest began peacefully, there were clashes between officers and people in the crowd, with 13 arrests made. Of those, seven people have been charged.

One was cautioned while the remainder were bailed or released under investigation to allow further enquiries to take place, the police said. Charges include assaulting emergency workers and a racially aggravated offence.

Palestine Action has regularly targeted British sites connected to Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems as well as other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza in 2023.

In its latest and most high-profile action, two Palestine Action members entered a Royal Air Force base in central England on Friday.

The ban would put Palestine Action on a par with Hamas, al-Qaeda or ISIS under British law. Condemning the ban, Amnesty International UK said that “government embarrassment at security breaches is no excuse for interfering with human rights”.