London police drop terrorism case against activist over station arrest

The Metropolitan Police have agreed to settle a legal claim brought by Tej Singh Bhandal, a 68-year-old pro-Palestinian activist, and close the criminal investigation against him. The resolution ends a dispute over his arrest at St Pancras International station in London earlier this year, where officers detained him under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Bhandal was returning to the United Kingdom on a Eurostar train when police removed him from a queue at the station. He stated that he was arrested and charged after refusing to provide the pin code for his mobile phone. He spent several hours in police detention before launching a legal challenge against the force's handling of the incident.

In a statement, Bhandal’s lawyers said Scotland Yard accepted that supporting lawful political protest groups, specifically the BDS movement and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, did not automatically create a link to terrorism. This concession addresses the core of the claim that Bhandal was targeted based on his political associations rather than specific evidence of a threat.

Bhandal described the arrest as incredibly humiliating and an abuse of power. He told the Press Association that he was handcuffed and led through the station in full view of the public. He said he felt like the tabloid newspaper stereotype of a person of colour and was treated like a criminal during the detention.

This is not the first time Bhandal has faced counter-terrorism scrutiny. He was arrested in 2025 as part of an investigation into a Palestine Action-linked incident at the Elbit Systems factory in Bristol. During that previous case, he was questioned by counter-terrorism police over four days, his house was searched, and his devices were seized, but he was released with no further action. Bhandal believes an intelligence flag was placed on his name after that incident, which led to his arrest at St Pancras.

Alex Kenney, a civil liberties lawyer at Hodge Jones + Allen who represented Bhandal, said adequate safeguards are essential to prevent the arbitrary use of anti-terrorism laws. She expressed hope that the case leads to more stringent adherence to the statutory obligations under the Terrorism Act and changes police conduct in future investigations.

The Met’s decision to settle the claim came on the same day that more than two dozen protesters were arrested outside the supreme court. Those arrests occurred while an appeal was being heard against the ban on Palestine Action. Bhandal said people are being singled out by the authorities for activism, noting that the creeping criminalisation of protest action is a consequence of government policy.