Response to arrests at Westminster Meeting House

Uncategorised

On Thursday 27th March, 2025, over 20 Metropolitan Police officers armed with tasers broke down the door of Westminster Quaker Meeting House, searching the building and arresting 6 young people. They were meeting to discuss protests against the climate crisis and Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

London Young Adult Quaker Meeting, who meet in Westminster Quaker Meeting House, minuted their response to the actions of the police (LYAQM 2025/4/6 03.01). Young Friends General Meeting has received the minute and upholds it. We note that, just weeks before this raid took place, Meeting for Sufferings discerned on police powers and protest in Britain (MfS/25/03/14 – Police powers and protest).

 

This raid has felt very personal to many of us – a meeting house is not a sacred space, but it is meant to be a safe one, and many of us view them as homes away from home. These raids are not new, but are an escalating issue that many activists are facing, both in their meeting spaces and also their personal dwellings. The degree of personal hurt that we feel at this raid must be felt tenfold by those who have had their own homes raided.

YFGM is deeply concerned by this and other actions of the police, and their violation of the right to protest and freedom of speech. A week after the raid took place, Young Friends joined public meetings for worship alongside hundreds of other Friends to protest outside New Scotland Yard, across the country, and online.
These arrests were the first to take place within a Quaker meeting house in living memory, but wider policing trends suggest we cannot assume they will be the last. The powers used to carry out this attack on the right to protest are a result of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023, which has seen a wider trend of criminalisation of protest backed by these acts. YFGM are increasingly concerned about the ways in which these acts allow for police power to be abused, and demand their repeal. Dissent and protest are essential parts of a healthy democracy, yet these powers allow arrest to be used as a tool to strike fear into all those looking to speak truth to power by unjustifiably splitting up peaceful protests and meetings.
We have been heartened to see the response from around the world, as well as some of our own elected representatives. It is clear to see that the conversation around the treatment of protest in the UK has shifted as a result. We hope that this leads to change. It is outrageous that the mere discussion of protest led to the arrest of 6 young people, some of whom were new to the movement.
We as Quakers are called by our testimonies to call out injustice where we see it and work towards equality, peace and sustainability. Many Quakers are involved in campaigns on a wide variety of issues, including the climate crisis, social justice, and Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
In February 2024, at our YFGM in York, we minuted a response (2024.02.10 Palestine) to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. As we reflect on what has and is continuing to happen we are reminded of our commitment:

“As we go forward we will strive to do what we can, how we can, to work for peace. We recognise the value of hope in complementing the actions we take for peace – of keeping our faith that, one day, “freedom from the scourge of war will … be brought about through the faithfulness of individuals to their inmost convictions”. (part of QF&P 23.92)

As we ask ourselves ‘what does love require of us?’ we recognise the need to preserve the peoples, practices and culture of Palestine, through action direct and indirect. We uphold our members in their ministry, and will commit to standing with them in their work for peace.

We are reminded of the words of Friend Bayard Rustin, that “We need in every community a group of angelic troublemakers who really will disrupt. Our power is in our ability to make things unworkable. Not with any weapons because that is not our weapon. The only weapon we have is our bodies, and we need to tuck them in places so things, wheels don’t turn.””

 

While the rise in suppression can be scary, we want to remember that our rights to protest do still exist. As Quakers, we have a long tradition of standing up for what we believe in and engaging in protest. We encourage one another to attend legal rights trainings and increase our knowledge of our rights, so we can feel able to continue our witness in whichever ways speak to us.