Terrorism arrests in UK surged by 660% after Palestine Action ban

Arrests for terrorism-related offences in the UK have risen sharply — by 660 percent year on year — largely due to enforcement actions linked to support for Palestine Action, according to newly released government figures.

Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian group, was proscribed as a terrorist organisation and banned in July. Since then, any public expression of support for the group has become illegal under UK anti-terrorism legislation. Hundreds of protesters opposing the ban — many using the slogan “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action” — have been arrested in recent months.

Government data published on Thursday shows that of the 1,886 arrests made in the year up to September for terrorism-related activity, 1,630 — around 86 percent — were linked to support for Palestine Action. In the previous year, only 248 arrests were recorded under anti-terrorism laws.

The figures also show a marked demographic difference among those arrested in connection with Palestine Action. Protesters were 4.4 times more likely to be female than those arrested for other alleged terrorism offences and were significantly older on average. The mean age of those arrested for Palestine Action-related offences was 57, compared with 30 for other terrorism-related arrests.

Before the group’s proscription, there were 63 terrorism-related arrests between April and June. Following the ban, arrests surged by 2,608 percent, with 1,706 recorded between July and September.

The decision to ban Palestine Action is being challenged in the High Court by its co-founder, Huda Ammori. Her legal team argues that the proscription has had a “dramatic, severe, widespread and potentially lifelong” impact.

Raza Husain KC, representing Ammori, told the court that the then home secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision was “novel and unprecedented”, describing it as the first time a direct-action civil disobedience group that does not advocate violence had been classified as a terrorist organisation. He said the move was “so extreme as to render the UK an international outlier”.

Court submissions also revealed that the Home Office had been advised by the Foreign Office that Palestine Action’s activities were “largely viewed by international partners as activism and not extremism or terrorism”.

Representing the government, Sir James Eadie KC argued that Parliament retains the authority to determine what constitutes terrorism under UK law.