THE ban on protests against Palestine Action’s proscription have proven “unenforceable,” campaigners argued today, after several police forces chose not to arrest peaceful sign-holders over the weekend.

More than 250 people held signs reading “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action” across 10 locations on Saturday.

Yet police responses have varied, with officers arresting only 164 protesters.

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries (DOJ), the group co-ordinating the actions, said: “Yet again the ban has proven unenforceable, with police forces in Belfast, Derry, Edinburgh, Totnes and now Exeter choosing not to arrest peaceful sign-holders under ‘terror’ laws, while other forces have given up making arrests half way through.”

A total of 2,717 arrests have now been made under the Terrorism Act at protests organised by DOJ, including 636 during an intensified wave of actions in November.

Taking action, Gabriella Ditton, 31, a bartender protesting in Norwich, said: “Our government is enabling atrocities and genocide in Gaza while using counter-terror laws to silence dissent.

“Defending our democracy means refusing to look away. I’m here today to call out the UK government’s misuse of these laws — criticising policy doesn’t make someone a terrorist.”

Mark Levene, 72, a Jewish genocide scholar who protested in Presteigne, Wales, said: “As a Jew, I seek to uphold the most fundamental Jewish principle that life is precious and saving life is the most important thing any person can do.

“This stands in complete contrast to the atrocities committed by the Netanyahu government, even while it claims to speak on behalf of all Jewish people, myself included.”

Police arrested 143 protesting outside the Royal Courts of Justice last Wednesday, as a judicial review into the ban on Palestine Action took place.

The government designated the direct action group, which targeted Israel-linked arms factories, a terrorist group on July 5.

The legal case, which concludes on Tuesday, has been dogged by allegations of a “stitch up” after the original judge was replaced by a panel at the last minute, which includes Mr Justice Swift, who has previously acted for defence and home secretaries, along with Ms Justice Steyn, who ruled in June that the government’s decision to export F-35 jets was lawful.

Intervening in the review, UN Special Rapporteur Ben Saul warned the ban places Britain “out of step with comparable liberal democracies” and “sets a precedent” for further crackdown on other protest movements.

A DOJ spokesperson said: “The ban was never in the public interest as Palestine Action never posed any threat to the public.

“Conflating property damage with terrorism, as the Terrorism Act 2000 does, is an insult to everyone who has lost loved ones through acts of genuine terror.

“The proscription of Palestine Action was an act of authoritarian overreach whose only purpose was to protect Israel, the arms companies supplying its genocide, and the government ministers who have been so shamefully complicit in that genocide.”