Complain about Kent Police officers silencing peaceful protest

On 14 July 2025, Kent Police officers threatened to arrest a peaceful protester under the Terrorism Act simply for holding a Palestinian flag and having signs saying, ‘Free Gaza’ and ‘Israel is committing genocide’. This is completely unacceptable.

Write to the Independent Office for Police Conduct to demand it immediately opens a full independent investigation into this extremely serious attack on the right to protest for Palestine.

First name *

Last name *

Your email *

Postcode *

Subject

<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW114276825 BCX8">To whom it may concern,</div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW114276825 BCX8">I wish to complain about the outrageous conduct of armed police officers in Canterbury, Kent, on Monday 14 July. In a well-publicised incident, officers threatened to arrest a peaceful protester under the Terrorism Act simply for holding a Palestinian flag and having signs saying, ‘Free Gaza’ and ‘Israel is committing genocide’. </div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW114276825 BCX8">Video circulating widely online and partially published by the Guardian, very clearly shows one of the officers stating that ‘mentioning freedom of Gaza, Israel genocide, and all of that, comes under proscribed groups which are terror groups’ and is therefore a criminal offence, before threatening to arrest her ‘under the Terrorism Act for being part of a proscribed group.’ A second officer added that she had given them suspicion that she was ‘supporting a Palestinian group.’ The protestor was forced to provide her name and address, and was warned that if she displayed the signs again she would be arrested.  </div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW114276825 BCX8">The conflation of ‘a Palestinian group’ with terrorism is a blatant example of anti-Palestinian racism. The threat to arrest a protestor for displaying signs calling for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza is a serious violation of her freedom of expression rights. The disgraceful actions of Kent Police confirm the warnings of civil liberties and human rights organisations that the recent proscription of direct-action group Palestine Action will be used to try to criminalise and silence all those campaigning for Palestinian rights. </div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW114276825 BCX8">Since the incident, a spokesperson for Kent Police has publicly doubled down on the officers’ improper actions, stating that ‘it is a criminal offence to carry or display items that may arouse reasonable suspicion that an individual is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation’.  </div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW114276825 BCX8">This is completely unacceptable.  </div><div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCXW114276825 BCX8">I demand that the Independent Office for Police Conduct immediately opens a full independent investigation into this extremely serious attack on the right to protest for Palestine.  </div>

To show you're an actual person, what is 2 + 4 ? *

Keep me up to date by email with actions I can take for Palestine.

Don't add me to your email list.

By submitting this form, I agree to allow you to forward the above message after reviewing the content for abuse. I understand my data may be retained for monitoring purposes.

Data will be processed by Organic Campaigns: Privacy policy. Acknowledgements

Get active

Support us

Our Campaigns

Digital resources

Information

For your stall

Complain about Kent Police officers silencing peaceful protest