Six arrested suspected of plot to disrupt London Stock Exchange after newspaper passes info to cops

14 January 2024, 19:28 | Updated: 14 January 2024, 21:37

Six people have been arrested suspected of a plot to disrupt London's Stock Exchange.

Police began investigating after the Daily Express passed information about the plot to the Met Police - linking the plans to activists from a Palestine activist group.

Police arrested a 31-year-old man in Liverpool on suspicion of conspiracy to cause criminal damage.

Five other people, all believed to be part of the same plot, were later arrested later on Sunday for the same offence.

It was alleged that the group planned to target the stock exchange tomorrow and lock themselves on to prevent the building from being able to commence trading.

A 29-year-old woman was arrested in Brent, and a 23-year-old man were arrested in Tower Hamlets, London.

Two other women, aged 28 and 26, were arrested in Liverpool.

A 27-year-old man was arrested in Brighton.

Detective Superintendent Sian Thomas said: "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.

"I'm grateful to the Express for their willingness to provide the information gleaned from their own investigation. It was instrumental in helping us intervene successfully.

"Having only been provided with the material on Friday afternoon we had limited time to act.

"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."

Several members of the group, which formed in July 2020 and claims to want to shut down arms trade with Israel, have been the subject of legal action in recent months.

In December, eight activists were acquitted of a total 12 charges which included criminal damage, burglary and encouraging criminal damage, the group said, while its founder, Richard Barnard, was convicted of criminal damage for his involvement in action against an Elbit Ferranti factory in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

Seven activists currently face charges of burglary and criminal damage at a trial in Bristol Crown Court after allegedly entering Elbit's headquarters in the city.

The Palestine Action group told PA: "The London Stock Exchange raise billions of pounds for apartheid Israel and trade shares in weapons manufacturers which arm Israel's genocide of the Palestinian people.

"Whilst Britain remains complicit in the brutal colonisation of Palestine, our direct action campaign will not be deterred."

The latest police intervention comes a day after the Metropolitan Police said it is 'looking into' a video of a man shared online telling a pro-Palestine crowd in London that "massacres should be normalised as the status quo".

Hundreds of thousands of pro-Palestine protesters took to the streets in central London on Saturday to call for the war in Gaza to stop.

Thousands more are understood to have been attracted to this weekend's protest after the UK and US launched air strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen in the last few days.

Speaking at an event in London seemingly led by Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA), a pro-Palestine group, Mohammed El-Kurd said: "Our day will come, but we must not be complacent.

"Our day will come but we must normalise massacres as the status quo."

He then left the stage.

El-Kurd has since released a text from his speech, in which he says 'not normalise massacres as the status quo' - which was different to his delivery at the rally - and later says he 'misspoke'.

He did not initially deny using the phrase, however, writing on Twitter: "Lots of ppl reporting this speech to the police. Idgaf. Zionism is indefensible."