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Metropolitan Police arrested at least 27 protesters who gathered in central London on Saturday to publicly support Palestine Action, a nonviolent direct action group now officially designated a terrorist organization by the U.K. government.

According to Middle East Eye, Palestine defenders including 83-year-old Rev. Sue Parfitt, a former government attorney, an emeritus professor, and health workers gathered by a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square, where they held signs reading, “I OPPOSE GENOCIDE, I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION.”

Members of the group Defend Our Juries informed Metropolitan Police of their plan prior to the demonstration.

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“We would like to alert you to the fact we may be committing offenses under the Terrorism Act tomorrow, Saturday 5 July, in Parliament Square at about 1pm,” the group said in an open letter to Met Commissioner Mark Rowley.

“If we cannot speak freely about the genocide that is occurring, if we cannot condemn those who are complicit in it and express support for those who resist it, then the right to freedom of expression has no meaning, and democracy and human rights in this country are dead,” the letter argues.

Parfitt told Novara Media that members of Defend Our Juries were “testing the law.”

“I know that we are in the right place doing the right thing,” she........

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