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British teen arrested by counter-terror police over London Palestine demo

London Metropolitan Police said the 19-year-old was arrested on suspicion of inviting support for Hamas
Middle East Eye understands that the arrest is linked to a speech at a pro-Palestine march at the School of Oriental and African Studies (AFP)

Counter Terrorism Police in London have arrested a 19-year-old woman on suspicion of committing a terrorism offence at a protest last year.

The London Metropolitan Police confirmed that counter-terrorism detectives arrested the teenager at 7:30 am on Wednesday.

“She was arrested on suspicion of inviting support for a proscribed organisation, contrary to Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000,” said the Met in a statement. 

“The proscribed organisation in this case is Hamas.”

The police added that the “offence took place at a protest in Camden on 19 October”.

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Middle East Eye understands that the arrest is linked to a pro-Palestine march at the School of Oriental and African Studies. 

SOAS did not respond to requests for comment at the time of writing.

Last month, the Metropolitan Police said it had made more than 400 arrests in relation to offences linked to the war in Gaza, which has raged since Hamas's attacks into southern Israel on 7 October.

It said it had launched around 30 counter-terrorism-led investigations into suspected offences at protests in London and had set up “a dedicated taskforce... to identify terrorism offences linked to protests”.

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