LONDON — About 30 people appeared in a London court on Wednesday, charged under anti-terrorism laws for supporting Palestine Action, the latest such cases after the British government banned the group in July.

More than 2,000 people accused of showing support for the anti-Israel organization have been arrested at demonstrations since the ban, according to protest organizers.

The corridors of Westminster Magistrates’ Court were crowded Wednesday morning as some of the first defendants to be charged showed up for hearings, accompanied by supporters.

The latest prosecutions, which follow a first trio of defendants appearing in court last month, involve around 30 people, including a 59-year-old retired engineer and a 30-year-old baker.

They were among those arrested at the first July protests staged after the ban came into effect, and are all accused of holding signs or wearing T-shirts bearing the slogan “I support Palestine Action.”

Their trials are expected to take place after March 2026, the judge revealed Wednesday.

Under UK anti-terror laws that prohibit support for banned groups which have been labeled terrorist, they could face a sentence of up to six months in prison.

“Protesting against the abetting of genocide is not terrorism, it’s humanity,” Anthony Harvey, the retired engineer, told the judge shortly after confirming his identity in the courtroom.

The UK government banned Palestine Action following several acts of vandalism, including against two planes at a Royal Air Force base, which caused an estimated £7 million ($10 million) in damage.

Trudi Warner was among those who showed up Wednesday in support of those charged.

“All this is an appalling waste of public money,” the retired social worker told AFP.

The 70-year-old, who was arrested at an August protest and is due to appear in court next month, branded the prosecutions “a gross overreaction” by the government and “a breach of our human rights.”

Palestine Action and its proponents, as well as others, including a UN Commission, have accused Israel of waging genocide in its war in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre, which killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

The Israeli government has repeatedly denied the genocide accusation and insists it sought to minimize civilian fatalities throughout the course of the two-year war, which saw over 67,000 people killed in the Strip, an unverified figure provided by the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The Palestine Action ban has prompted widespread criticism from rights advocates.

On Tuesday, the Council of Europe said it was alarmed by the “large numbers” of arrests.

In a letter to UK Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood, the Council’s human rights commissioner Michael O’Flaherty said London needed to conduct a “comprehensive review” of its policing of such protests.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.