Six people have been arrested for allegedly plotting to prevent the London Stock Exchange from opening, the Metropolitan police has said.
The police received information that activists with the Palestine Action group were allegedly planning to stop the LSE from opening for trading on Monday by “locking on” to the building, and causing damage.
Met officers, alongside officers with the Merseyside police, arrested a 31-year-old man in Liverpool on suspicion of conspiracy to cause criminal damage on Sunday morning. Later, officers arrested two more people in Liverpool, women aged 28 and 26, as well as a 29-year-old woman in Brent, north London, a 23-year-old man in Tower Hamlets, east London and a 27-year-old in Brighton.
“We believe this group was ready to carry out a disruptive and damaging stunt which could have had serious implications had it been carried out successfully,” said the Met police Det Supt Sian Thomas.
“Mindful of the suggestion that this was one part of a planned week of action, we are in contact with the City of London police as well as other forces across the UK to ensure that appropriate resources are in place to deal with any disruption in the coming days.”
Thomas thanked the Daily Express, who supplied the information, for “their willingness to provide the information gleaned from their own investigation”. All six individuals remain in custody.
The group reportedly hoped to cause “huge economic damage” by climbing on top of two revolving doors at the front of the building, armed with red paint-filled fire extinguishers, before locking their necks to the glass entrance using bike locks.
Other activists would lock themselves together in front of the main and back entrances, while fake bank notes, painted red to represent blood, were fired from “money guns”. The allegations come after a two-month investigation during which a reporter posed as a member of the group, the Express reported.
The Palestine Action group told PA: “The London Stock Exchange raises billions of pounds for apartheid Israel and trades shares in weapons manufacturers, which arm Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people.
“While Britain remains complicit in the brutal colonisation of Palestine, our direct action campaign will not be deterred.”
