British police announced that they arrested nearly 900 individuals during a demonstration in support of Palestine Action the previous day.

This follows the government’s appeal for people to refrain from showing support for the now banned campaign group.

Palestine Action was designated a proscribed organisation under anti-terrorism legislation in July after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base, causing damage to military aircraft.

The group has been involved in vandalism and protests targeting defense firms in the UK linked to Israel, accusing Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government of complicity in alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Following the protest near Parliament in central London on Saturday, police reported that 890 individuals were detained marking the highest number of arrests from a single protest to date.

Of those arrested 857 were held for showing support for the banned group while 17 faced charges for assaults on officers as the protest escalated into violence.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Clair Smart stated, “The violence we encountered during the operation was coordinated and carried out by a group of people intent on creating as much disorder as possible”.

The protest was organised by a group called Defend Our Juries, which reported that among those arrested were priests, war veterans, healthcare workers many elderly individuals and some disabled persons.

A spokesperson for the group declared, “these mass acts of defiance will continue until the ban is lifted”.

The proscription of Palestine Action places the group along side organisations like alQaeda and Islamic State making it a crime to support or belong to the organisation with penalities of up to 14 years in prison.