Scotland Yard has been accused of suppressing a peaceful pro-Palestinian protest after the co-head of Greenpeace UK was arrested for pouring biodegradable blood-red dye into a pond outside the US embassy in London.
Will McCallum, the co-executive director of Greenpeace UK, was among five people arrested when the large pond outside the embassy was turned red on Thursday in what Greenpeace said was a protest at the US government’s continued sale of weapons to Israel.
Greenpeace said McCallum had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause criminal damage, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Four other activists were also arrested near the embassy on suspicion of criminal damage and conspiracy to cause criminal damage.
According to the campaign group, 12 activists tipped non-toxic, biodegradable dye from containers emblazoned with the words Stop Arming Israel into the pond in Nine Elms, south-west London. The containers were delivered to the embassy on bicycles with trailers disguised as delivery bikes.
Areeba Hamid, the co-executive director at Greenpeace UK, said: “These arrests are further proof that the right to protest is under attack in the UK. This protest used biodegradable pond dye that is designed to disperse and wash away naturally.
“We took this action because US weapons continue to fuel an indiscriminate war that’s seen bombs dropped on schools and hospitals, entire neighbourhoods blasted to rubble, and tens of thousands of Palestinian lives obliterated. As the biggest supplier of weapons to the Israeli military, the US government bears a heavy responsibility for the horrors unfolding in Gaza.”
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 50,000 people, was in response to Hamas’s 7 October attack, in which more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and a further 250 taken hostage.
Greenpeace UK is campaigning for the UK and US governments to announce a total arms embargo on Israel.
A Metropolitan police spokesperson said: “Five people have so far been arrested nearby on suspicion of criminal damage and conspiracy to cause criminal damage. The pond is accessible via a public footpath. There was no breach or attempted breach of the secure perimeter of the site.”
