CAMPAIGNERS have condemned the Metropolitan Police’s U-turn on Palestine Action arrests after at least 18 protesters were held for defying the ban on Saturday.

They were nabbed in central London at a demonstration organised by Defend Our Juries (DOJ) in response to the Met’s shift in policy.

After the High Court ruled the ban to be unlawful in February, the London force, Britain’s largest, said it would not arrest people for showing support for Palestine Action, but last week the force said it had reversed its policy.

The Met said it would resume arresting protesters for holding signs in support of the direct action group until the government’s appeal to the High Court decision was heard.

DOJ had previously asked the force to clarify its policy regarding the direct action group after officers held a woman at the al-Quds Day protest for allegedly defying the ban, despite its own stated policy.

In response the activist group is organising a mass-participation event in London’s Trafalgar Square on Saturday April 11 to challenge the ban on Palestine Action and the government’s continued support of the genocide in Gaza.

On Saturday afternoon, the force shared a picture on social media showing protesters sitting on the steps outside its headquarters with the caption: “Arrests are now under way outside New Scotland Yard.”

Taking part in Saturday’s action, 54-year-old forest school leader Arainn Hawker said the decision to restart arrests and the government appeal to the High Court decision is an “affront to justice and a chilling abuse of state power.”

He added that he refuses “to stand by while this government uses legal loopholes to silence dissent and protect the flow of genocidal weapons from UK shores.”

The Met’s decision to resume arrests has also come under fire from leading law firm Hodge Jones & Allen LLP, which warned the force that any arrests would be unlawful.

Since the Home Office proscription of Palestine Action last year more than 2,700 people have been arrested.

Official data published earlier this month showed that 92 per cent of all “terror” arrests made last year were linked to supporting Palestine Action.

While arrests in the capital resume, Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring — England’s senior district judge — said court cases will continue to be delayed until the High Court appeal comes to a conclusion.