Defend Our Juries say 1,000 people signed up for Saturday’s mass disobedience in London

~ Scott Harris ~

Defend Our Juries (DOJ) has pledged the “largest ever day of defiance” of the Palestine Action ban this Saturday, after seven key members were arrested in home raids by counter-terrorism police.

The arrests, carried out yesterday (2 September) under section 12 of the Terrorism Act, targeted DOJ spokespeople who had hosted public Zoom calls for those signing up to the campaign. Among those detained were lawyer Tim Crosland, care worker David Nixon, and retired engineer Tony Harvey, who has already been charged in Scotland.

At the time of a press conference on Wednesday, the group said several of those arrested had been held for more than 24 hours, exceeding the custody time limit.

Amnesty International condemned the raids as “a blatant attempt to muzzle freedom of speech” and called for the immediate release of those detained. The organisation has now launched a global campaign urging prosecutors in all three UK jurisdictions to drop charges against protesters.

Saturday’s Parliament Square action will see over 1,000 people pledge to risk arrest by holding signs stating: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”. Organisers say the number of signatories is already double that of last month’s action, when more than 500 people were detained in London in the Met’s largest mass arrests since the Committee of 100 protests in 1961.

Defend Our Juries has advised participants to reject “street bail” and insist on their right to station-based legal advice, predicting that police will not have capacity to process the numbers.

The 6 September protests mark the first coordinated defiance of the ban across all three legal systems in the UK. A sit-in is planned at Queen Elizabeth House in Edinburgh, where Scottish prosecutors recently dropped cases against Palestine Action supporters after the Scottish Human Rights Commission warned the arrests risked breaching the law. In Derry, campaigners will also defy the ban, adding pressure on Stormont and Holyrood not to enforce Westminster’s measures.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper announced the proscription of Palestine Action in July, the first time a domestic protest group has been banned as a “terrorist” organisation. The move has been widely condemned by rights groups, UN rapporteurs, and Labour members, with polling showing over 70% of the party’s base opposed. A judicial review of the decision is due to be heard in November.