According to a statement from the Metropolitan Police, 425 people were arrested in London on Sept. 6, at a pro-Palestinian event organized by Palestine Action, a political group the U.K. government has labeled as a terrorist organization.
Under the Terrorism Act 2000, any public action, including wearing clothing that “arouses reasonable suspicion” of support for a terrorist group, is a crime.
The police acknowledged that allocating limited policing resources to arrest people holding signs, meant the police were not able to be active in the rest of the city (to prevent or investigate real crimes), but insisted that “Where a group advertises that they intend to commit crimes, we have a duty to respond accordingly.”
