LONDON - Police started making arrests at the first mass demonstration under Andy Burnham's premiership opposing the proscription of Palestine Action, according to a report from The Guardian. More than 100 people gathered outside the US embassy in Battersea, south London, the report said.
The Guardian reported that the demonstrators held signs with messages opposing genocide. The report's available summary is cut off mid-sentence, so the full wording of the signs could not be confirmed from it.
According to the same report, a Met commander alleged that the demonstrators were "essentially meeting to purposefully commit a crime." The Guardian's summary does not say whether that allegation has led to charges, or how many arrests police had made at the time of the report.
The Guardian's headline and summary describe the gathering as a protest against the Palestine Action ban, and the summary uses the word proscription for the same measure. The Guardian's account does not name the Met commander in the portion available, and it gives no further detail on the grounds for the arrests.
The full report, written by Sammy Gecsoyler and published by The Guardian in its coverage of the protest, is the source for these details. Based on the available text, the reported facts are limited to the size of the gathering, its location, the signs, the commander's allegation, and the start of arrests.
Sources: The Guardian: More than 100 protest against Palestine Action ban outside US embassy in London.