Documentary Photographer
Submission 2026
The New Terror
On 20 June 2025, four people allegedly broke into the RAF Brize Norton military air base in Oxfordshire, England, and caused damage to military aircraft in protest at the UK's political and arms-trade links to the Israeli Government's operations in Gaza. Following the incident, in July 2025, the direct action group 'Palestine Action' — alleged to be responsible for organising the incident — was proscribed as a terrorist organization in UK law. Expressing support for the group therefore became a serious criminal offence under the Terrorism Act 2000.
In an organised campaign in the months that followed, hundreds of people sat in urban centres — including London, Bristol and Edinburgh — wilfully breaking the ban by holding hand-drawn signs that read: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action." In the second half of 2025, over 2,000 arrests were made of people, many of them elderly, alleged to be showing support for the group in this way. Spanning five months, these pictures document moments from that campaign, on Parliament Square and Trafalgar Square in London, outside the UK Home Office in London, and on College Green in the south-western city of Bristol.
All pictures were made in 2025.
As of January 2026, legal proceedings for many of the arrests shown are ongoing, so all charges referenced are alleged.
Imogen, one of more than 425 arrested on Parliament Square on 6 September 2025 during a mass defiance of the ban.
A man sits with hands clasped behind his back, awaiting arrest outside the UK Home Office, Marsham Street on 24 November.
Two female police officers flank the statue of suffragette Millicent Fawcett on Parliament Square, 6 September. The statue was fenced off by authorities ahead of the planned sit-in.
29 November. In Bristol, south-west England, a woman holds an incomplete placard. The addition moments later of the words ‘Support Palestine Action’ would constitute an offence under the Terrorism Act, leading to her arrest.
On Trafalgar Square, late in the evening of 4 October, an elderly woman is carried away by specialist police officers. Arrests had by this stage been ongoing for several hours.
A man is arrested on Parliament Square, 6 September, whilst clutching a small hand-written sign. The words 'I oppose genocide' remain visible.
Veteran activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Angie Zelter, founder of the International Women's Peace Service, looks out with concern from a custody van after being arrested on 24 November for alleged support of 'Palestine Action' outside the Home Office on Marsham Street, Westminster.
A small group wait to become the first people to be arrested for alleged support of Palestine Action, hours after the proscription became law at midnight on 5 July. Among them, 83-year old priest Reverend Sue Parfitt (centre-left) and Gaza emergency medic Leigh Evans (right).
A renowned left-wing activist, known to many as Spinderella, is arrested at Trafalgar Square on 4 October despite not holding a sign or placard. There is confusion amongst officers surrounding him as they try to ascertain the reason for his arrest. After calling on their radios for guidance, Spinderella is ultimately arrested on a Harassment charge.
On the evening of 6 September, arrests continue into dusk on Parliament Square after several hours. A supporter of the arrestees holds a sign highlighting what many see as the absurdity of the situation, as an elderly woman is escorted to a police van for holding a placard or sign.
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