Police arrest 55 protestors in London over alleged support for Palestine Action

Fifty-five people were arrested during a protest in London for allegedly supporting the proscribed Palestine Action group outside Britain's parliament on Saturday, the Metropolitan Police said.

The protestors in Parliament Square waved supporting the group that was banned this month under anti-terrorism legislation, the police force said in a post on X.

Demonstrators, some wearing Palestinian keffiyehs, were taken away in police vans.

British lawmakers proscribed Palestine Action earlier this month after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain's support for Israel.

Membership of Palestine Action now carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

The group has called the decision "authoritarian", and a challenge to the ban will be heard at London's High Court on Monday.