UK police arrest 200 pro-Palestinian protesters

British police said they arrested more than 200 people in central London on Saturday as supporters of a recently banned pro-Palestinian group intentionally flouted the law as part of their effort to force the government to reconsider the ban.

- 

Parliament in early July passed a law banning Palestine Action and making it a crime to publicly support the organization. That came after activists broke into a Royal Air Force base and vandalized two tanker planes to protest against Britain's support for Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Backers of the group, who have held a series of protests around the UK over the past month, argue that the law illegally restricts freedom of expression.