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Police presence will be increased in the City of London on Monday, the Metropolitan Police announced, following the arrest of six pro-Palestinian activists on suspicion of plotting to disrupt the opening of the London Stock Exchange.
London Underground said in a statement that the six activists “targeted and damaged the London Stock Exchange on the morning of Monday 15 January with the intention of ‘locking on’ to prevent the building from commencing trading.” announced.
The plan involves tactics similar to those used by environmental activists such as Just Stop Oil, who stick to buildings and make it difficult for police to arrest them, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said. added. However, police were unsure what impact the protests would have on the market.
No physical trading takes place at LSE headquarters, so trading is unlikely to be affected. LSE declined to comment.
A 31-year-old man was arrested in Liverpool on suspicion of conspiracy to cause criminal damage, and five others, all believed to have taken part in the same conspiracy, were subsequently detained in Liverpool, London and Brighton.
“These are significant arrests. We believe this group was prepared to carry out destructive and harmful stunts which, if successful, could have had serious repercussions.” Superintendent Sian Thomas of the Metropolitan Police said:
Palestine Action has a track record of taking direct action to disrupt multinational arms dealers, and in recent years has targeted companies that provide weapons used in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In particular, members of the group have been charged in connection with rooftop protests and other protests at factories across the UK run by Israeli military technology company and defense contractor Elbit Systems.
The Metropolitan District said it had received information from the Daily Express about a protest planned at the stock exchange on Monday. This information suggests that the protest group wanted to prevent workers from entering the building on Monday. However, the force was “quite confident” Sunday’s arrests had averted chaos, and City of London Police also planned to have officers in the area on Monday.
The protests planned for Monday are aimed at starting a “week of action” by Palestinian Action, which police said they were still gathering information about.
A Metropolitan Transport Authority spokesperson said: “We are in contact with City of London Police and other forces across the UK to ensure appropriate resources are in place to deal with the disruption over the coming days.”
Tens of thousands of people marched in London on Saturday in the latest in a series of unrelated mass demonstrations calling for an end to Israeli retaliatory attacks in the Gaza Strip that have claimed the lives of more than 23,000 Palestinians since October 7. marched through the center.
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