Police arrest 86 people for aggravated trespass after pro-Palestinian protesters breach HMP Wormwood Scrubs grounds in support of a hunger striker.
LONDON: Eighty-six people were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass after protesters breached the grounds of a London prison in support of a pro-Palestinian hunger striker.
London’s Metropolitan Police said the group was protesting late Saturday in support of a Palestine Action prisoner on a hunger strike and then refused to leave the prison grounds.
“They allegedly blocked prison staff from entering and leaving, threatened police officers and a number managed to get inside a staff entrance area of a prison building,” police stated.
All those involved were detained following the incident outside HMP Wormwood Scrubs in West London.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson described the incident as “deeply concerning”.
According to the campaign group Prisoners for Palestine, a man named Muhammad Umer Khalid is being held at the prison and has been on a hunger strike for over two weeks.
Khalid is one of several people who have been on hunger strike at various points in recent months as they await trial.
They face charges for an alleged break-in and criminal damage on behalf of the Palestine Action campaign group before it was banned under anti-terrorism laws.
Khalid and the others deny those charges and have called for them to be dropped.
