Asked if this was a “dark step” to limit the fundamental right to protest, UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood replied that having a freedom “doesn’t mean you have to use it at every moment of every day”.

London’s Metropolitan Police arrested another 492 people over the weekend after a protest Saturday in Trafalgar Square, as the Starmer government accelerated its crackdown on opposition to the Gaza genocide.

The entirely peaceful protest was held to oppose the proscription of Palestine Action. It was organised by Defend Our Juries and attended by over 1,000 people. Of the arrests, 488 were for holding up signs declaring, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”.