A man who climbed London’s iconic Big Ben tower, waving a Palestinian flag and chanting “Palestine freedom,” was arrested after coming down late at night.
According to a report published in Arab News, London’s Metropolitan Police, which was notified of the incident at 7 pm on Saturday, said the man was arrested after coming down several hours later. The man sat barefoot for the whole day at a height of several metres, until emergency workers encouraged him to come down from the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben.
Negotiators boarded a fire truck lift and used a megaphone to persuade the man to come down, but footage on social media showed the man, wearing a hoodie and baseball cap, insisting on coming down on his terms. ’Negotiators expressed concerns about the injury to his foot, saying there was a lot of blood and his clothes were not warm enough to withstand the night’s falling temperatures.
London police stopped the crowd that had gathered at the scene from moving forward, with participants chanting “Free Palestine” and “You are a hero.”
Police had closed off the surrounding area, including Westminster Bridge, while the Houses of Parliament had cancelled tours. Westminster police later said all roads in the area had reopened.
