Palestine Action arrests to resume, Metropolitan Police says

The Metropolitan Police has said it will resume arresting protesters for supporting the proscribed group Palestine Action. The force had indicated that its officers would be unlikely to make arrests after a High Court judgement in February ruled the government's ban of the group under anti-terror legislation was unlawful. But the ban remained in place pending a Home Office appeal and arrests at the Al Quds Day protest earlier this month included for allegedly supporting Palestine Action. Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman said it was still a criminal offence to support Palestine Action, adding: "We must enforce the law as it is at the time, not as it might be at a future date." "We must do that consistently and without fear or favour," he added. "While the High Court has found the proscription of Palestine Action to be unlawful, it has confirmed the impact of that judgment will not take effect until the government's appeal has been considered which could take many months." The Met said it had revised its enforcement approach from its earlier "interim position". In a High Court ruling last month, three senior judges ruled that while Palestine Action had used criminality to p