UK

Last Saturday’s mass arrests of peaceful protesters – an eye-witness report

HubMP201

OCTOBER 6, 2O25

A Hackney Palestine Solidarity Campaign (HPSC) supporter joined a “witness circle” at Trafalgar Square on Saturday afternoon 4th October as police arrested 488 people for holding placards declaring opposition to genocide and support for the proscribed group Palestine Action. This is an account of what they witnessed during the first two hours of the fourth such London protest, organised by Defend Our Juries (DoJ).

Eight of us travelled together from Dalston to Trafalgar Square, arriving shortly before 12.30pm. Three had indicated their willingness to face arrest for displaying placards deemed in breach of Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000. I was among the other five who had volunteered for the first shift of HPSC-organised “witness circles” that would continue through the afternoon and until after 8.30pm. The Trafalgar Square protest was the first DoJ action I had seen first-hand.

Though the official start time wasn’t until 1pm, a very substantial police presence had assembled in and around the Square. Officers had cordoned off the steps at the northwestern end, near the Square’s fourth plinth. I couldn’t help but think of our proximity to the increasingly notorious Charing Cross police station, the subject of a damning Panorama documentary aired only days before.

Meanwhile, protesters armed with pieces of cardboard and marker pens began to filter in slowly and then very quickly as 1pm approached. A group of fifteen or so “Quakers for Peace” staked out a distinct spot at the northeastern end, a few metres below our group, which stood at the top of the Square nearest to the National Gallery. A smattering of trade union (NEU, UCU and UNISON) banners and the odd union flag had appeared nearby. Palestinian, Irish and a few other national flags fluttered and sometimes jerked in the winds generated by the remnants of Storm Amy. Those who had attended previous DoJ protests in Parliament Square told me that the atmosphere was more sombre than in August or September.

Soon after 1pm we started to see Metropolitan Police officers move into action and make arrests. Some individuals chose to walk flanked by cops; others went “floppy.” Sometimes the police took notable care to minimise the risk of injury to those protesters, though on other occasions they appeared to be carting so much unwanted luggage. Many of us applauded as those under arrest disappeared from the Square, with occasional chants of “Free, Free Palestine” ringing out and periodic booing of the police.

Media reports indicated that the Met had deployed some 1,500 officers. Some others had come from the City of London force. Previous DoJ protests had seen a substantial presence from South Wales, but they were not evident on 4th October. I only learned the following morning that some officers had been reassigned to duty in the Square from the Police Service of Northern Ireland!

In contrast to the earlier Parliament Square gatherings, previous participants told me that policing had more of a military air. Mini-platoons of fifteen to twenty marched in formation with senior officers issuing instructions to halt and eventually to enter the crowd. At the opposite end of the Square near Nelson’s Column, a far-right sympathiser, draped in a Union Jack inserted himself briefly into one of the Met’s platoons. He appeared to withdraw untouched by officers. There was the occasional comic moment as when the police arrested and the swiftly released a man carrying a placard that declared support for “PLASTICINE ACTION.” Overall, though, boredom combined with increasing tension, as some cops became undisciplined, forcefully shoving photographers and others wearing tabards clearly marked “WELFARE.”

Of course what I and fellow witnesses saw on a blustery Saturday afternoon in Trafalgar Square was a far cry from the brutal crackdowns the Trump administration has unleashed in US cities, but there’s also no doubt that Saturday 4th October was another example of blatantly political policing – at times faintly ridiculous and yet no less sinister, not least under a Labour government led by a man who first made his name as a “human rights” barrister.     

Images c/o author.