British police announced the arrest, on Sunday January 14, of six people, members of a pro-Palestinian group, suspected of having wanted to disrupt the London Stock Exchange to protest against the “arms trade” with Israel.
“Activists from the Palestine Action group allegedly intended to attack the London Stock Exchange on the morning of Monday January 15, causing damage and “locking down” the building to prevent it from opening,” details Scotland Yard in a press release published in the evening.
Palestine Action describes itself as a “direct action network” whose aim is to expose “British complicity” with the State of Israel. “The London Stock Exchange collects billions of pounds for the Israeli apartheid regime (…) and trades shares in arms manufacturers who support the genocide of the Palestinian people,” he claimed on X.
Police opened an investigation on Friday after being tipped off by a journalist from the Daily Express tabloid, who had infiltrated the activist group. According to the reporter’s information, the activists planned to tie themselves to the entrance to the Stock Exchange with padlocks around their necks, lock themselves in the building, and smear it with red paint and fake bank notes. .
A “week of action” against British institutions
Arrested on Sunday were: a 31-year-old man and two women aged 28 and 26 in Liverpool, a 29-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man in London, and a 27-year-old man in Brighton on suspicion of “ conspiracy to cause criminal damage.” They were all still in custody on Sunday evening.
The group has carried out several actions since the start of the war on October 7, provoked by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian movement Hamas on Israeli soil and which led to a bloody response in the Gaza Strip.
In October, he covered the facade of the BBC headquarters in London with red paint, accusing the public broadcasting group of having “blood on its hands” because of its coverage of the war.
Scotland Yard said the failed attempt was part of a “week of action” by the group against British institutions, and that police would do all possible “to deal with any disruption in the coming days”.