Police mistakenly arrested a protester over terrorist offences because they thought his ‘Plasticine Action’ T-shirt read ‘Palestine Action’ – a group which was controversially banned under terrorism legislation last month.
Miles Pickering, 59, (no relation to Ronnie), was representing Plasticine Action – a group of artists who campaign against animation generated by AI.
Miles says he turned up to a protest in Parliament Square on August 9 over the genocide in Gaza, and was arrested when a police officer saw his T-shirt.
He says that senior officers burst out laughing when they realised their error, and then released him without charge.
Miles, from Brighton, told Metro: ‘He must have misinterpreted the fact that I was wearing a Plasticine Action T-shirt as me wearing a Palestine Action T-shirt.
‘I do not support Palestine Action and was not at the protest to support them.
‘But I was definitely there to protest genocide and the government’s role, as well as to highlight the plight of animators losing their work in this country.’
Aside from the erroneous arrest of Miles, the protest itself resulted to 532 arrests on terrorism charges, almost all under section 13 of the Terrorism Act.
Miles adds that after he was arrested, he was taken to two gazebos handling the large queues of arrested people.
Protesters cheered Miles, saying: ‘”Well done,” “You’re a hero”, “You’re fantastic”.’
Miles says: ‘I’m pointing to my T-shirt and going, “Have a look, Plasticine Action”.
‘I put my fingers to my lips like, “shh, don’t tell the police”. And everyone’s laughing and taking photos. And the crowd can see what’s happening.’
That’s pretty funny, to be fair.
As he was waiting to be booked in, a senior officer asked the arresting officer if Miles could be detained under Section 12; a more serious charge of supporting a proscribed terror group.
Miles says: ‘My arresting officer said, “I can’t,” and the senior officer said, “Why not?”
‘And he said, “Because he hasn’t got Palestine Action written on him. He’s got Plasticine Action written on him”.’
Shortly after, Miles was let go.
Recently, footage from another pro-Palestine protest in Glasgow showed a similar situation unfolding with another man in a Plasticine Action T-shirt:
PC Plods scratching their heads..
Do they arrest someone with a Plasticine Action shirt⁉️ pic.twitter.com/HS4nD4ALpr
— Earth Hippy 🌎🕊️💚 (@hippyygoat) August 18, 2025
No doubt Plasticine Action T-shirts will be flying off the shelves now, or wherever they stock them. It’s actually a touch of genius from Miles Pickering to make a few quid, but also to simultaneously manage a protest for Palestine and against AI in animation too. It’s great that he’s not playing the victim about all this, as it actually couldn’t have played out any better.
It also reinforces that the average police officer isn’t competent enough to enforce this proscription without trampling on the rights of innocent people, and also shows how ridiculous it is to criminalise entire crowds. You already know there’s going to be a f*** ton of Plasticine Action T-shirt at the next protest. What’s the government going to do then? Ban the letter P?
For the time the BBC cancelled Gary Lineker’s final interview with Mo Salah over concerns the pair would discuss Gaza, click HERE.
