wSix young women of hen gather in central London to discuss the climate crisis and the war in Gaza, and the environment cannot be more appropriate. The building they sit in is a Quaker conference hall, a home of the movement whose history has centuries-old rooted in protests and commitment to social justice. On the table are cups of jasmine tea, ginger cookies and vegetarian cheese straws.

But the incident that made this apparently abrupt end of the joyful gathering sparked a protest against another type and raised questions about how the UK's largest and most vulnerable police force manages justice.

The conversation between young activists that night turned to the 1963 children's parade in Birmingham, Alabama, when the blue light flashed with the chaos. Seconds later, as many as 30 Metropolitan police officers, some of whom were equipped with stun guns, smashed the doors of the listed buildings at the highest-ranking listed buildings and arrested young women.

One of six 18-year-old Zahra Ali held in the cell for 17 hours. Another was "back piled", with hands on her back cuffs, leaning against the wall in what she described as an hour of hardship. The cell phone was seized and the laptop was used as evidence.

This raid, described as “intelligence-led”, is targeting the youth needs of protest groups. Members present at the meeting were arrested for suspected conspiracy to cause public nuisance. Five are still under investigation.

Six weeks later, the action drew criticism from religious groups, politicians and activists. The need for such serious action achieved in places of worship remains a problem, especially for those targeted.

“I was the last person to be detained,” said Ali, the youngest of six women. "I arrived at the station at about 10pm and I had to wait two hours to book. I was taken to a frozen cold cell for several hours. I was not allowed to have a private phone call. I couldn't speak to my lawyer until he came to him in person.

"We saw the blue light before they marched. We were just a group of young people talking about our government, protesting, and they arrested us for it.

"I think if they would have let them in the bell, obviously... they don't have to raid us. It's six young women in a room, where we hired, we advertised publicly, and they could have sat there listening to us. I really didn't see any conspiracy."

The allegations of conspiracy are especially with the can of young women. Painting classes and therapy classes were conducted in the same building. The women said the meeting was almost never held secretly.

"We post on Instagram, we have posters and flyers. It's a welcome speech every week and usually if they have good wisdom they will know it will never be busy and never be enough to make it (guaranteed) 30 police officers."

Youth demand (including young veterans of the Just Stop oil movement) is released online, and it plans to "close London" every day in April. The group held a series of protests last month, including arrests after two activists threw red powder paint on the tower bridge during the London Marathon.

The group called for a trade embargo in Israel after defecating at a £2 million estate in Yorkshire in Rishi Sunak and made headlines with "dirty protests" and announced the spray-painting of the Labor Party's headquarters red.

For Lia-Anjali Lazarus, a 20-year-old political and language student at UCL, the raid was a "traumatic experience." "The raids and arrests feel very violated. It makes me feel paranoid and jumping. When you are blatantly seen as a person, it's hard not to be like a criminal," she said.

Police seized her phone, laptop, diary, oyster cards and French grammar books. "I said this is my French grammar book, and the officer said, 'Okay, how do I know. I can't speak French.'"

Lazarus said the police’s outrageous reaction felt like “thinking about policing,” but she was not surprised considering that she was arrested at Soup Night in Community Center last year just stopped oil activists.

Paul Parker, a recording clerk at the Quaker Club in the UK, said no one was arrested in his life in the Quaker conference room. Quakers are the nickname of a member of a friend's religious society.

Mal Woolford, elder of the Westminster Quaker Conference, who was present at the time, said the party looked like a harmless meeting for drama students. When he recalled talking to investigative officials during the arrest, he called the police response “ridiculously mean.” "What I said: 'Did you do to the church? What assessment did you do?' The assessment seemed to be with: 'We realized we would not encounter any resistance. ”

Wolford said police seemed to want "a element of surprise." “For them, it’s about: ‘We need to grab their actions.’ Before talking about behaviors that might do something, how you catch someone is a thought crime or a crime, we are in the field of minority reporting,” he said.

"The investigative officer said: 'We have the wisdom to think this meeting is happening and they are planning a crime." I tried to think that was what intelligence, and then I realized it was the (youth needs) website.

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer joined the Quaker vigil outside the New Scottish yard in central London last month in response to the raid.

"It's not just an incident, it's about the growing right to peaceful protest in this country. The previous Conservative government has introduced laws that restrict the right to peaceful protest, and the current Labor government has not made any promises to repeal these people so far."

Greens’ fellow Jenny Jones was also on the vigil, describing the Metropolitan behavior as “absolutely outrageous.”

Mrs. Jones has written to Metropolitan Police Chief Sir Mark Rowley to inquire about the incident. "At what level, it was decided to break the door of a peaceful community, and where was that? He said that it was still much lower?" she said. “It’s absolutely crucial because it will show how serious the police are about legislation.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said five women have been released on bail pending further inquiries and one of them will not take further action. On March 28, six other people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance.

The spokesperson said: “We absolutely recognize the importance of the right to protest, but we have a responsibility to intervene to prevent activities from going beyond the protests and thus severely disrupt and other criminal acts.

“It is an action targeting people in need of youth, conspiring to close London, including blockade of roads, all the damage will lead to the public’s attempt to engage in daily business.”

Denyer, who was introduced to Quakerism at Durham University, said the incident sets a precedent for "very worrying" precedent.

“The government has been talking about providing protection for faith groups and their legal places of worship, but the police have done the opposite,” she said. “As many people who know their British history and Quaker history say, when the government follows Quaker, you know you’re in trouble.”