Police repression has reached a new level after direct action group Youth Demand’s welcome talk and a number of houses were raided last night and this morning. Nine people, including one attending their first meeting and a journalist were arrested.
The Canary, March 28, 2025
Police broke into a Quaker Meeting House last night (27 March) and arrested six young people holding a meeting over concerns for the climate and Gaza.
Quakers in Britain strongly condemned the violation of their place of worship which they say is a direct result of stricter protest laws removing virtually all routes to challenge the status quo.
Just before 7.15pm more than 20 uniformed police, some equipped with tasers, forced their way into Westminster Meeting House.
No-one has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house in living memory.- Paul Parker
They broke open the front door without warning or ringing the bell first, searching the whole building and arresting six women attending the meeting in a hired room.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023 have criminalised many forms of protest and allow police to halt actions deemed too disruptive.
Meanwhile, changes in judicial procedures limit protesters’ ability to defend their actions in court. All this means that there are fewer and fewer ways to speak truth to power.
Quakers support the right to nonviolent public protest, acting themselves from a deep moral imperative to stand up against injustice and for our planet.
Many have taken nonviolent direct action over the centuries from the abolition of slavery to women’s suffrage and prison reform.
Paul Parker, recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, said: “No-one has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house in living memory.
“This aggressive violation of our place of worship and the forceful removal of young people holding a protest group meeting clearly shows what happens when a society criminalises protest.
“Freedom of speech, assembly, and fair trials are an essential part of free public debate which underpins democracy.”
Quakers condemn police raid on Westminster Meeting House by Quakers in Britain, March 28, 2025
It’s time for every single person to be in resistance
Youth Demand
One of those arrested last night and released this morning was Ella Grace-Taylor, 20, an actor musician student who said:
At this point, it couldn’t be clearer that we are in a police state. Our politicians will stand by as police engage in mass arrests and imprisonment of anyone who speaks out against the government for being responsible for genocide. By arming Israel and refusing to call what is happening a genocide, they are perpetrating mass slaughter. Hundreds of children were killed in Palestine in the last week.
We won’t stop saying it. We won’t be intimidated.
A Youth Demand spokesperson said:
It’s clear that the government sees Youth Demand as a threat. They know that we are right. There are thousands of young people who are horrified by what the government is doing to facilitate genocide and who know that they have been betrayed as their future is fucked. We will not be silenced. Young people all over the country are coming together to shut London down day after day throughout April.
We refuse to be ruled by liars, war criminals and arsonists. We will not let them get away with this. We refuse to be ignored. It’s time for young people to take to the streets day after day and shut London down.
Only sustained mass resistance can put an end to genocide. By standing together we can grind the murder machine to a standstill. It’s time to disrupt. Join us every week in April, starting with a rally next Tuesday 1 April, at 6:30pm on Malet Street in front of Senate House Library.
Youth Demand supporters RAIDED by cops across UK as outrageous clampdown begins by The Canary, March 28, 2025
unflinching 