- News
- UK
- Crime
Peter Tatchell, 74, was carrying a sign that said ‘globalise the intifada’
Mathilde Grandjean Saturday 31 January 2026 16:12 GMT- Bookmark
Bookmark popover
Removed from bookmarks
Close popover
CloseRelated: Greta Thunberg arrested at protest supporting Palestine Action hunger strikers
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Email*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice
Renowned activist Peter Tatchell has been arrested at a pro-Palestine march in central London, his foundation said on Saturday.
Mr Tatchell, 74, was arrested, it said, over a placard reading: “Globalise the intifada: Non-violent resistance. End Israel’s occupation of Gaza & West Bank.”
In a statement released by the Peter Tatchell Foundation, Mr Tatchell said Saturday’s arrest was “an attack on free speech”.
He said: “The police claimed the word intifada is unlawful. The word intifada is not a crime in law.
“The police are engaged in overreach by making it an arrestable offence.
“This is part of a dangerous trend to increasingly restrict and criminalise peaceful protests.”
open image in galleryPolice speak to a protester at a pro-Palestine march in London on Saturday (Yui Mok/PA Wire)Mr Tatchell said “intifada”, an Arab word, means “uprising, rebellion or resistance against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza”.
He added: “It does not mean violence and is not antisemitic. It is against the Israeli regime and its war crimes, not against Jewish people.”
Mr Tatchell was taken to Sutton police station to be detained, according to his foundation.
The Metropolitan Police said in December that protesters chanting “globalise the intifada” would be arrested because the “context has changed” in the wake of the Bondi Beach terror attack.
In a post on X, the Met said: “Officers policing the Palestine Coalition protest have arrested a 74-year-old man on suspicion of a public order offence. He was seen carrying a sign including the words ‘globalise the intifada’.”
open image in galleryPeter Tatchell insisted that his placard was not antisemitic (PA)Mr Tatchell had been marching near police officers and with the sign on display for about a mile from Russell Square to the top of the Strand when the group came across a counterprotest, according to a witness.
At that point, he was stopped and “manhandled by 10 officers”, according to Jacky Summerfield, who was with him.
“I was shoved back behind a cordon of officers and unable to speak to him after that,” she said.
“I couldn’t get any closer to hear anything more than that; it was for Section 5 [of the Public Order Act].
“There had been no issue until that, he was walking near the police officers,” she added.
“Nobody had said or done anything.”