London’s Metropolitan Police said on Friday it will seek to prosecute a further 60 people for “showing support” for Palestine Action, the direct-action group proscribed as a terrorist organisation on 5 July. The latest cases lift the number of arrests since the ban to more than 700, including 522 people detained at a demonstration in Parliament Square last weekend. Norfolk Police separately reported 13 arrests in Norwich on Saturday, while police data cited by local media indicated that roughly half of those arrested to date are aged over 60. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, writing in the Observer and the Financial Times, defended the proscription, saying Palestine Action mounted an “escalating campaign” of criminal damage, including an estimated £7 million of destruction to military aircraft at RAF Brize Norton in June. The Crown Prosecution Service said charges already filed carry a terrorism connection, and Commissioner Mark Rowley noted that dedicated teams have been set up to process large volumes of cases each week. The Equality and Human Rights Commission this week wrote to Cooper and Rowley warning that a “heavy-handed” approach could breach proportionality standards for protests that are not linked to the group. Palestine Action has been granted a High Court hearing in November to challenge the ban, which makes membership or public support punishable by up to 14 years in prison. The crackdown has spurred high-profile criticism: Irish novelist Sally Rooney, in an Irish Times op-ed, pledged to donate royalties from BBC adaptations of her work to Palestine Action and invited police to investigate retailers stocking her books. Civil-liberties campaigners, including Amnesty International, argue that the sweeping arrests risk criminalising peaceful dissent.