Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was arrested on Tuesday while attending a pro-Palestine protest in London. Campaign group Defend Our Juries said she was detained under the UK Terrorism Act — typically used against the most dangerous offenders and carrying a minimum sentence of 14 years imprisonment. Officials said two people were arrested for ‘throwing red paint on a building’ while a 22-year-old woman was nabbed for “displaying a placard in support of the Palestine Action” protest group.
“Greta Thunberg arrested for holding a sign opposing genocide. When peaceful protest is a crime, democracy is in deep trouble. Happening under a Labour Government,” Green Party leader and London Assembly member Zack Polanski wrote on X.
Visuals shared online show the activist sitting quietly on the curb and holding a paper sign: “I support Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide”. The back of the poster included a message against apartheid and the Palestinian flag. Police officials can be seen taking the placard away from Thunberg while she continues to sit without protest.
What is Palestine Action and why is it banned?
UK-based direct-action campaign group has led vehement protests against Israel and the Gaza war — with several members currently on a lengthy hunger strike. It was proscribed as a terror group by the British government earlier this year and supporters have been arrested under stringent anti-terrorism laws. The 22-year-old Swede was holding a sign supporting the hunger strikers and their organisation when she was arrested on Tuesday.
The 2025 Prisoners for Palestine hunger strike began with two and eventually expanded to include eight UK prisoners on remand for alleged Palestine Action-related protests. They began refusing food on November 2 — the largest such action in British prisons since 1981. Some of them have now endured more than 50 days without food and even multiple hospitalisations — now facing the looming threat of irreversible damage and multi-organ failure. They were arrested while protesting UK involvement in Israeli military operations in late October and early November.
The first two prisoners to join the protest have now been on hunger strike for 52 days. According to a Prisoners for Palestine statement, they are now at a “critical stage, where death is a real possibility”. The British government has so far refused to intervene in the judicial process — insisting that questions about bail and detention are matters for the courts to decide.
Protest in London
The protests were part of a larger demonstration in which two other activists sprayed red paint in front of an insurance company in the City of London, the area of central London known as the hub of Britain’s financial services industry. Prisoners for Palestine says they targeted the insurer because it supports the Israel-linked defence firm Elbit Systems. City of London police said a man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. A third woman was later arrested on suspicion of supporting a banned organisation. British police generally do not identify suspects by their names prior to their being charged.