Palestine Action clash with police as group banned by No 10 under anti-terror laws

Protesters clashed with police at a demonstration in support of Palestine Action as the government confirmed a move to ban the group under anti-terror laws.

- GEORGE LITHGOW

The crowd surged towards police when officers tried to detain someone in Trafalgar Square in central London, while onlookers chanted "let them go". The protest had initially been planned to take place outside parliament, but the location was changed early yesterday morning after the Metropolitan Police imposed an exclusion zone.

The Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said he was "shocked" by the planned protest and described Palestine Action as an "organised extremist criminal group". In a post on social media, the Met Police said: "Officers entered the crowd to speak to three people but were surrounded by other protesters, some of whom used force to attempt to free those being detained. Two were arrested for obstruction. A third arrest was made earlier for a racially aggravated public order offence."

Shortly after the protest began, home secretary Yvette Cooper announced she had decided to proscribe Palestine Action, following the group's vandalism of two planes at an RAF base. She said she would lay an order before parliament next week, which, if passed, will make membership and support for the protest group illegal.