On Thursday evening and the early hours of Friday morning, the British state carried out a coordinated series of raids and arrests targeting Youth Demand, an anti-imperialist, pro-Palestine, and environmentalist political organisation.
The scale of this clampdown is shocking. Nine people were arrested in total, with their phones and laptops seized as evidence.
A raid at a “welcome meeting” held in the Quaker Meeting House in Westminster saw 30 Metropolitan Police officers armed with tasers force their way into the building to arrest six attendees – one of whom was a first-time attendee and another a journalist.
‼️ BREAKING NEWS: 9 ARRESTS AND 12 HOUSE RAIDS IN UNDER 20 HOURS ‼️
Arresting those for attending a welcome talk is an unprecedented level of police repression that has never been seen before in the UK. Repression means the state is nervous and we are winning.
So we will not… pic.twitter.com/MFOlXCRI19
— Youth Demand (@youth_demand) March 28, 2025
The fact that this repression was carried out in a place of worship is especially egregious. As one spokesman from the Quakers commented, “no one has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house in living memory”.
The remaining arrests were made at activists’ houses during the early hours of the morning, with police reportedly “barging in” without making clear that they had warrants.
The reason provided by the police for these arrests is that the group is planning a series of rallies and peaceful protests across London in April, to denounce the British government’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza.
As Youth Demand put it, “this is state repression on another level”.
This is state repression on another level.
We will not be intimidated, join us on the streets this April to demand an end to Starmer’s war machine. Sign up in bio or at https://t.co/rqU3OswTSi pic.twitter.com/5DjBDirT5j
— Youth Demand (@youth_demand) March 28, 2025
This latest attack comes mere months after the mass arrests at January’s national Palestine solidarity demonstration.
It also comes during the disgraceful trial of the ‘Filton18’, a group of political prisoners who are being held on remand using counterterrorism legislation for their direct action against arms manufacturers.
Given the shocking scale of this repression, these attacks should serve as a wake-up call for the labour movement and the left.
For years now, the British ruling class and its representatives in Westminster – both the Tories and Labour – have been busy beefing up the powers of the state, to prepare themselves for a period of heightened class struggle and social explosions.
From passing legislation like the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Act – which criminalises “conspiracy to cause a public nuisance” and was used during this weekend’s clampdown – to the Minimum Service Levels Act limiting the right to strike, it is clear that our democratic rights to free speech and assembly are in the establishment’s crosshairs.
The ruling class can sense that they are sitting on top of a volcano of class anger. They have witnessed the scale of this outrage with the militant Palestine movement. And now they know what is lying around the corner for them when their latest attacks on workers and the poor begin to bite.
We must make one thing clear: this level of repression is a sign of weakness, not strength. A government that resorts to such violent, draconian measures is not one which is confident in its future.
Keir Starmer knows that he cannot solve any of the problems facing workers and young people. All his rotten regime can offer is austerity and misery at home, and bloodshed abroad.
This complete political and social bankruptcy is why his government must wield the whip of state repression. They are intimidated by any form of militant opposition, because they know that standing behind it is the simmering rage of millions.
We applaud the comrades of Youth Demand for standing strong against these brutal attacks, and continuing with their plans for rallies and actions across London in April.
🚨SIX ARRESTED FOR SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN UNPRECEDENTED REPRESSION TO STOP US🚨
At 7:30pm yesterday, over 30 Metropolitan Police officers broke into a Welcome Talk at the Quaker Meeting House in Westminster and arrested six people, including one attending their ever event and a… pic.twitter.com/mLLBkZ62TA
— Youth Demand (@youth_demand) March 28, 2025
The Revolutionary Communist Party stands in complete solidarity with Youth Demand and the arrested activists.
We call for all the charges to be dropped immediately, and for the trade union movement to mobilise in defence of these activists. The measures used against Youth Demand today will be used against striking workers tomorrow. An injury to one is an injury to all!
To truly protect our rights and freedoms as a class, we need a mass, militant struggle of workers and young people, aimed against Starmer, the Westminster clique, and the capitalist system they all uphold.
- Solidarity with Youth Demand!
- Drop all the charges immediately!
- Down with state repression!
- An injury to one is an injury to all!
- For a mass mobilisation against Starmer’s rotten regime!
