Police Fail to Arrest Two-Thirds in Biggest-Ever Protest Against Palestine Action Ban | Novara Media
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Over the course of eight hours, the Metropolitan Police only managed to arrest around one-third of the approximately 1,500 protesters holding signs expressing support for proscribed group Palestine Action. Elderly and disabled demonstrators were carried away to the disgust of crowds. Harriet Williamson reports.

An estimated 1,500 people in London have taken part in one of the largest acts of mass civil disobedience in British history, to protest the ban on Palestine Action. The Metropolitan Police arrested just over half of them, in what has been described as a “huge embarrassment” for commissioner Sir Mark Rowley.

At around 8:30pm on Saturday, a DoJ spokesperson said: “This is a huge embarrassment for Sir Mark Rowley, who claimed the Met would arrest every person who held a sign saying ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action’. They have failed to arrest the majority of sign holders and it’s no wonder – there are simply too many people who oppose this utterly dystopian ban and the government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide to arrest us all.”

An officer told Novara Media that anyone holding a sign breaking the proscription could simply put it away and leave. People were not searched on the way out, no kettle was in place and protesters were witnessed walking away with their signs in full view.

  • BradleyUffner@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    12 days ago

    If they arrested “just over half” how could they fail to arrest “two-thirds”? Either the headline or the text content is wrong.

    • geneva_convenience@lemmy.mlOP
      4·
      12 days ago

      An estimated 1,500 people in London have taken part in one of the largest acts of mass civil disobedience in British history, to protest the ban on Palestine Action. The Metropolitan Police arrested just over half of them*, in what has been described as a “huge embarrassment” for commissioner Sir Mark Rowley.

      At 1pm on Saturday, more than 1,300 protesters, the majority of them over 60 and some visibly disabled, sat down in Parliament Square and wrote “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine action” on cardboard signs. By 9:15pm, the Met said officers had managed to arrest “more than 425” and called its operational plans “effective” – despite having failed to arrest everyone, as it had claimed it would.

      I think it’s quoting the MET police’s claim of arresting half. But that definition is reliant on how many protesters there truly were.