Met raids Quaker meeting house and arrests six women at Youth Demand talk

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TheHeroYouNeed247@reddit

Protesting is effectively over in the UK. You need to APPLY to protest or its illegal. Absolute joke. Police can stop you in the street and demand access to your phone if they SUSPECT you of the vague requirements of the terrorism acts.

You can be searched without suspicion if you enter an area designated by the police as effectively a reduced rights zone (I don't care what they call it)

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Forgotlogin_0624@reddit

Yeah, the whole period of western democracy, of a liberal society that allows for something as meager as expression of discontent, is over.

Long arc of history such a liberal society is an aberration, so maybe this as always going to be the case. Sucks though, weird to look back 20 years and recognize you had greater freedom then than now.

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Zipz@reddit

This has been in place in America forever and we still manage to have protests.

Let alone the western world is arguably the most liberal it’s ever been. It’s weird looking back 20 years and thinking that’s things like LGBTQ haven’t gotten better

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jadsf5@reddit

Odd thing to say when reports show were losing more rights and freedoms than ever before.

Like, this is coming from the American who 5 years ago had protestors being thrown in black vans and hidden away by federal police.

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NotGalenNorAnsel@reddit

Unmarked Federal agents executed Michael Reinoehl for suspected murder, though he claimed self defense. They weren't trying to arrest him, Trump even said...

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Zipz@reddit

I think tank said something ?

I’m confused why you put so much weight into a think tank?

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Julleispoese@reddit

The slow gutting of social programs, the crackdowns on protests, the takeover of media by billionaires, and the intense hostility towards migrants and refugees all suggest that you’re wrong. The western world is swinging hard to the right, it’s just also become more socially libertine.

The average centre left party in Europe or North America is indistinguishable from what used to be the centre right.

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Zipz@reddit

Plenty of worse crackdowns on protests. Vietnam for example.

The medias almost always been run by the elite. So it’s funny how we pretend that’s hanged

Lol ya see this the problem. You think migrants have it worse now ? Both parties not to long ago had issues with them…. It’s funny how people forget actual history to make up their own

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pasher5620@reddit

Governments will always slowly try to arrest power away from the people because, like with any power structure, it seeks to garner more power. It’s why government requires the constant involvement of an educated populace for it to function in the average persons favor. If people don’t care or are too dumb to understand what the government is doing, it allows for authoritarianism to flourish.

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Popcornmix@reddit

Having to report a protest is a thing in many countries ? Its so police can block roads ahead of the protest marching through, imagine a flash mob style protest suddenly walking through the city.

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TheHeroYouNeed247@reddit

Exactly, they are regulated to cause the least amount of inconvenience to the government as possible. They are treated as parades.

Another reason for the application is so that that police can set up a 'reduced rights zone' and harras anyone entering. In these zones, legal items become illegal, rights are forgotten and they arrest you for made up charges then release you in a few hours with a sorry, our mistake.

Protests used to be about civil disobedience.

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Jackelrush@reddit

Protest is an expression of the populace. If enough of the people protest then it becomes effective. This has been the case for humans for millennia. It’s not some place to create a mess and mindless destruction that is why it must be organized like it or not.

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ParagonRenegade@reddit

Why should protestors give a shit about what the police think lol

Protests with serious goals are best served by disrupting things as much as possible

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stratigiki@reddit

If the police need to organize the “event”, it's a parade not a protest.

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ActualSpiders@reddit

The Met police said it had arrested six people at the meeting on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.

Seriously, that's some thoughtcrime bullshit right there.

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there_is_no_spoon1@reddit

"conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. " I've never heard of a more anti-democratic phrase than this. What absolute *bullshit*! That's not even a fucking law, for fuck's sake!!

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Few-Cabinet3309@reddit

Never thought minority report would be real life... But here we are

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there_is_no_spoon1@reddit

THE QUAKERS?? The peace-loving at all cost QUAKERS? And we're raiding them WHY? These are the most peaceful sect in the Western world, and sonsabitches are *raiding them*???

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dizietembless@reddit

Not quite. Just because they were in a Quaker meeting house does not mean they were quakers. Being the awesome chill people they are quakers let multiple non affiliated groups use their premises.

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mulberrymilk@reddit

Quakers do and historically represent a huge block of Christian activism for Palestine, though.

“Quakers recognise there is a plausible risk that Israeli actions in Gaza have constituted genocide.” - https://www.quaker.org.uk/action/palestine-and-israel

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luvsads@reddit

Classic Quakers W

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dizietembless@reddit

Indeed, just saying the arrested people weren’t necessarily quakers. I’m in no way approving of the police actions here.

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there_is_no_spoon1@reddit

Hmph....okay, I suppose that would make a little sense.

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highfructoseSD@reddit

Here are news reports of this major UK police action against protesters / protest planners. (The OP's link only goes to a picture.)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj3x5j6g30ro

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/29/met-raids-quaker-meeting-house-and-arrests-six-women-at-youth-demand-talk

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/30/youth-demand-says-more-protesters-have-signed-up-since-quaker-house-raid

https://www.the-independent.com/news/uk/crime/quaker-meeting-house-arrests-met-police-b2723944.html

https://news.sky.com/story/ridiculously-heavy-handed-metropolitan-police-criticised-after-raid-on-quaker-meeting-house-to-arrest-protesters-13338603v

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LtSoba@reddit

The fact that these arrests are coming out now more than ever since the law was introduced by the Tories really feels kinda sus ngl. Like why now are they cracking down on protesters all of a sudden, like is their actual government orders going out to police over this or are they acting on their own?

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usefulidiotsavant@reddit

I was utterly confused about what the title even means until I got to "campaign demanding the UK stops arming Israel"... aaaah, I now fully understand why the Met police is raiding Quakers.

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empleadoEstatalBot@reddit

Met raids Quaker meeting house and arrests six women at Youth Demand talk

Police have raided a Quaker meeting house and arrested six women attending a gathering of the protest group Youth Demand.

More than 20 uniformed police, some equipped with Tasers, forced their way into the Westminster meeting house at 7.15pm, according to a statement by the Quakers.

“No one has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house in living memory,” said Paul Parker, the recording clerk for Quakers in Britain.

“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.”

In a video posted on Youth Demand’s Facebook page, a woman who claimed to have attended the meeting described it as a “publicly advertised welcome talk” about the group. She said police seized attenders’ phones and laptops.

Youth Demand describes itself as “a youth-led nonviolent civil resistance campaign demanding the UK stops arming Israel and cancels all new oil and gas granted since 2021”.

The Quakers’ statement said they “strongly condemned the violation of their place of worship” and pointed to the stricter protesting laws brought in by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023, which they claimed were directly responsible for the raid.

The Met police said it had arrested six people at the meeting on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. It said it arrested five other people for the same offence on Friday – four in London and one in Exeter.

The police said those arrested were part of Youth Demand and claimed those attending the meeting were planning direct action in the capital next month.

“Youth Demand have stated an intention to ‘shut down’ London over the month of April using tactics including ‘swarming’ and road blocks,” police said.

“While we absolutely recognise the importance of the right to protest, we have a responsibility to intervene to prevent activity that crosses the line from protest into serious disruption and other criminality.”

Police said all those arrested had been released on bail, except for one who was released and will face no further action.

Quakers, a nickname for members of the Religious Society of Friends, follow a religious tradition that grew from Protestant Christianity in the 17th century.

Quakers have a long history of supporting protest movements and nonviolence is one of their core beliefs.

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