Met police chief slammed for defending arrest of 83-year-old priest over Palestine Action placard
The head of London's Metropolitan Police force has been heavily criticised for defending the arrest of an 83-year-old retired priest who expressed support for the direct action group Palestine Action.
The Reverend Sue Parfitt, from Bristol, was detained for holding a placard on Saturday that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” She was among 29 people arrested on Saturday for acts of defiance against the proscription.
In an interview with the BBC on Sunday, Met commissioner Mark Rowley was asked whether the arrest of Parfitt was a good use of police time.
"The law doesn't have an age limit, whether you're 18 or 80," he replied. "If you're supporting proscribed organisations, then the law is going to be enforced. Officers, you could see, did it with great care and tried to preserve that person's dignity, but they're breaking a serious law."
Zack Polanski, the Green Party deputy leader who is standing to lead the party, remarked on X that Rowley "says 'serious' so many times.
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"The depravity of arresting people for helping placards when they're actively opposing a genocide which our government are active participants is what's serious here.
"Starmer has put him in this indefensible position."
He says "serious" so many times.
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) July 6, 2025
Thr depravity of arresting people for helping placards when they're actively opposing a genocide which our government are active participants is what's serious here.
Starmer has put him in this indefensible position. https://t.co/x0gqJq2B1p
Parfitt’s arrest has sparked widespread outrage on social media. One user called it “the march of authoritarianism & crackdown on freedom of speech & expression,” while another questioned whether it was now illegal to call her “a hero”.
Paul Powlesland, a barrister and campaigner, posted on social media that, the "last time I checked, burglary, bike theft, class A drug dealing & phone robbery were also against the law, but the Met Police have largely given up enforcing these laws."
Powlesland said that while the cases against Palestine activists would probably be investigated at police offices in Barking, east London, officers had told him they "do not have the resources" to protect working-class communities in that neighbourhood.
'Dark chapter for fundamental rights'
The arrests came just after midnight on Saturday, as a government order to label Palestine Action a terrorist group took legal effect. MPs voted 385 to 26 in favour of the ban.
Supporting or joining the group now carries a penalty of up to 14 years in prison.
'Proscription is political overreach designed to intimidate those who support direct action'
- Laura O'Brien, lawyer
This comes after four Palestine Action activists broke into an RAF base and spray painted two planes last month while riding on electric scooters.
According to flight tracking data, the two planes are back in operation.
Four Palestine Action activists have been charged following the incident.
Rowley told the BBC: "Palestine Action have over the last 18 months, I have to be careful what I say, because there's cases coming to trial, but some really serious criminal offences that they're accused of.
"There are millions of pounds worth of damage on multiple occasions. There are assaults, there are weapons used."
Rowley added: "This is not about protest. This is about an organisation committing serious criminality and obviously the home secretary was persuaded by the papers on her desk to proscribe them.
"That law has come into force, and if people want to defy that law, then we have to enforce it."
Despite Home Office minister Dan Jarvis arguing that Palestine Action’s proscription “will not impinge on people’s right to protest”, several UN special rapporteurs have warned the decision could have a “chilling effect” on protest and advocacy in relation to Palestine.
Laura O’Brien, head of the protest team at Hodge Jones & Allen Solicitors, told MEE that the proscription “marks a dark chapter for fundamental rights in the UK”.
"Where damage or violence is used, the existing criminal law provides all the powers the government needs to investigate, prosecute and punish. Proscription is political overreach designed to intimidate those who support direct action,” she said.
Meanwhile, a new direct action group that has the same branding as Palestine Action but calls itself “Yvette Cooper”, the name of the home secretary, has emerged.
The newly formed group posted footage purportedly of activists spray painting trucks belonging to Time Logistics, a company it said transports weapons for “Israel’s biggest weapons firm”.
“If you want to ban Palestine Action, you'll have to proscribe Yvette Cooper too,” the post read.
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