Police arrest 12 people involved in Israel arms embargo protest at Labour HQ

Twelve people have been arrested in connection with a demonstration that saw the Labour Party’s headquarters daubed in red paint.

Activists from the Youth Demand Group targeted the Opposition’s headquarters in central London today as it called for an arms embargo on Israel.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “Officers have been deployed in central London to a demonstration with ‘Youth Demand’ today.

“The demonstration started in Embankment and moved to Piccadilly Circus and Parliament Square with no road closures and no arrests.

“At 14:18hrs, police were called to an incident of criminal damage in Rushworth Street, SE1, following reports of protesters spraying paint inside and outside of a business property. Officers were on scene within two minutes and have arrested twelve people on suspicion of criminal damage.”

The protest comes as the government comes under pressure to publish legal advice it has received over whether Israel has breached international law in Gaza after seven aid workers, including three British volunteers, were killed in an airstrike last week – something Israel has said was a “grave mistake”.

Israel has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October – including more than 15,000 children – according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory.

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The government does not directly supply Israel with weapons but does grant export licences for British companies to sell arms to the country.

Labour has said arms exports to Israel should be suspended if the advice to ministers is that international law has been broken, but the government is refusing to make the guidance public, citing confidentiality.

Sir Keir Starmer has resisted backing an embargo without seeing the advice.

Youth Demand, which is calling for an arms embargo and an end to oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, said three of its supporters had sprayed the outside of Labour’s head office while another painted the lobby.

One of those involved, Chris Faulkner, 21, an earth sciences student from Oxford, said: “There has never been a safer time for Labour to be bold. Instead, they are behaving like the biggest cowards imaginable.

“Young people will not stand by and watch Keir Starmer allow mass murder by selling weapons to Israel and allowing the development of new oil and gas.

“Over 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza and the breakdown of our climate will kill hundreds of millions more in the coming decades.”

Labour declined to comment on the protest.

Opposition parties and a raft of legal experts have demanded the government publishes the legal advice it has been given on whether sales should continue to ensure the UK is not complicit in any law-breaking activities.

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Strike told Sky News this morning the UK had a “duty” to support Israel “in her hour of need” despite the row over arms sales, as he defended the decision not to publish the advice on the grounds that “long-standing convention” prevents the government from doing so.

Downing Street also denied reports there were splits in the cabinet over whether to publish the legal advice or not.

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