UK Home Office graph reveals shocking scale of Palestine Action arrests
A graph published by the UK Home Office reveals the shocking spike in terrorism arrests since the proscription of Palestine Action in July.
More than 1,800 people were arrested in connection with alleged terrorism-related activities in 2025 to September, representing a year-on-year increase of 660 percent, according to Home Office figures.
More than 1,600 of those arrests were linked to the Palestine Action ban, the latest Home Office data reveals.
On Friday, the High Court ruled the government's ban of the direct action protest group was discriminatory and unlawful, but said it would remain in place pending a government appeal.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood confirmed that the government intended to challenge the judgment in the Court of Appeal.
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In September, Middle East Eye revealed that more people had been charged with terrorism offences in the weeks since Palestine Action was banned at the beginning of July than during the entire 'war on terror', dating back to September 2001.
Those figures are confirmed by the most recent Home Office statistics published in December, which include the graph illustrating the sharp spike in the number of arrests in 2025.
They reveal that 1,886 people were arrested for terrorism-related offences in 2025 to September, and of these 1,630 were linked to Palestine Action-related activities.
Most of the arrests were linked to demonstrations against the ban in London and other cities in which protesters held placards which read: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action."
Most were arrested on suspicion of committing offences under section 13 of the Terrorism Act which prohibits displaying or wearing symbols of support for a proscribed organisation.
According to the latest data, 237 people charged with section 13 offences in the first nine months of 2025. The total number of people charged with section 13 offences since 11 September 2001 is 271.
Among those arrested for Palestine Action-linked offences, 1,362 posted bailed and were released under investigation.
Half of those arrested over the Palestine Action ban were female, a major demographic shift from previous years when the Home Office said the vast majority of people arrested for terrorism were male.
Friday's High Court judgment, which followed a judicial review brought by Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, was welcomed by campaign groups and human rights organisations who called for the ban to be lifted and for charges and investigations against those accused of supporting the group to be dropped.
'Thousands of people of conscience saw that branding protest as terrorism was a move straight out of the dictator's playbook'
- DOJ spokesperson
In a statement outside the court, Ammori called the ruling a "monumental victory both for our fundamental freedoms here in Britain and in the struggle for freedom for the Palestinian people, striking down a decision that will forever be remembered as one of the most extreme attacks on free speech in recent British history".
She said the ban had resulted in "unlawful" arrests of "nearly 3,000 people - among them priests, vicars, former magistrates and retired doctors" for holding signs in support of the direct action group.
"It would be profoundly unjust for the government to try to delay or stop the High Court's proposed order quashing this ban while the futures of these thousands of people hang in the balance," she said.
The campaign group Defend our Juries (DOJ) said in a statement that the arrests of some 2,787 people would now be deemed unlawful, as would the arrests of another seven people, who were charged with Section 12 (Terrorism Act 2000) offences for addressing Zoom calls as part of the campaign to reverse the ban.
"Thousands of people of conscience saw that branding protest as terrorism was a move straight out of the dictator's playbook. Together we took action at great personal risk - inspired by each other's courage. We helped make this proscription unenforceable by saying 'we do not comply'," a DOJ spokesperson said.
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