UK police arrested nine individuals, among them six young women, for holding a meeting to discuss the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Youth Demand, a pro-Palestinian group advocating for climate action and an end to UK arms sales to Israel, reported on Friday that at least nine of its members and supporters have been arrested, with police raiding homes and events associated with the group.

On Thursday, 30 Met police officers stormed into the Youth Demand Welcome Talk at the Quaker Meeting House in Westminster and arrested six young women, including one attending their first ever welcome talk and a journalist.

Three of them were released in the early hours of the morning, but three remain in custody

Police said that they were arresting people for “conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.”

In a separate incident at around 8.00 am on Friday, police arrested Youth Demand supporter Eddie Whittingham ​in his house in Exeter, but he has been released without charge.

Three other supporters were arrested at another location. Then, at around 12:30 pm on Friday, cops raided another Youth Demand supporter’s home and arrested them.

Youth Demand, in a post on Instagram, announced that the UK police have made nine arrests in less than 20 hours.

“Arresting those for attending a welcome talk is an unprecedented level of police repression that has never been seen before in the UK. Repression means the state is nervous and we are winning,” it said.

The Welcome Talk is an opportunity to share information about Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank and about the mass killing that is being imposed on marginalized people across the globe as a result of the accelerating climate crisis.

Ella Grace-Taylor, 20, an actor, musician, and one of those arrested, said after her release that UK politicians are complicit in allowing law enforcement to carry out mass arrests and detainments of those who speak out against the government’s involvement in enabling the Israeli genocide.

“By arming Israel and refusing to call what is happening a genocide, they are perpetrating mass slaughter. Hundreds of children were killed in Palestine in the last week. We won’t stop saying it. We won’t be intimidated,” she added.

A Youth Demand spokesperson said in a statement that the UK government sees the pro-Palestine group as a “threat” due to their strong opposition to governmental actions facilitating genocide.

“We will not be silenced. Young people all over the country are coming together to shut London down day after day throughout April,” the spokesperson highlighted.

Youth Demand is planning on launching its month of resistance on April 1, at 6:30 pm in Mallet Street outside Senate House Library.

“Only sustained mass resistance can put an end to genocide. By standing together,r we can grind the murder machine to a standstill. It’s time to disrupt,” the spokesperson noted.