A man who scaled London’s iconic Big Ben clock tower while clutching a Palestinian flag on Saturday was arrested after he returned to the ground in the early hours of Sunday morning, some 16 hours after first scaling the centuries-old landmark.
The man, whose identity was not immediately made public, was first spotted shortly after 7 a.m. local time on Saturday, the police said.
Images circulating on social media on Saturday morning showed him standing on a ledge several meters up the historic structure, on the clock tower, barefoot and clutching a Palestinian flag. He remained there throughout the day, and long after nightfall, even as emergency crews urged him to come down.
Crowds watched from behind a police cordon as the day continued, shouting “Free Palestine” and “You are a hero” in support of his actions.
In one video clip, he could be heard yelling “free Palestine!” to his supporters below, and laughing to himself.
AFP journalists at the scene said that the man appeared to have been bleeding from his foot, and Sky News reported that a large red stain, seemingly blood, was visible on the side of the tower around his feet.
The area around Westminster Bridge was closed at the start of the incident, and parliamentary tours were cancelled. The affected roads were reopened only after the man descended and was arrested.
The man posted several videos on Instagram, to an anonymous page with the username “free_all.of.us” from his vantage point on the clock tower. According to Sky News, he suggested in one of them that he intended to stay put for three and a half days.
After the man was first spotted, negotiators boarded a fire truck lift and used a megaphone to speak with him and attempt to convince him to come down, but footage on social media showed him saying: “I will come down on my own terms.”
Negotiators attempted to reason with him, pointing out the injury to his foot and suggesting that he was insufficiently dressed for a winter night clinging to the side of the clock tower.
“Right now I am saying I’m safe. If you come toward me, you’re putting me in danger and I will climb higher,” the man told the negotiators. “If you come toward me, I have no choice other than to climb higher because I’m not ready to come down.”
Shortly after 1 a.m. on Sunday, more than 16 hours after he first scaled the tower, the man was filmed inside the fire truck lift with the negotiators as it made its way back down to the ground. He unfurled the Palestinian flag and waved it above his head as he descended.
“We worked with other agencies including the London Fire Brigade and deployed specialist officers to bring this incident to a close as quickly as possible whilst minimising risk to life,” a Metropolitan Police spokesperson said after the man had returned to the ground.
Speaking to Sky News, Conservative lawmaker Ben Obese-Jecty demanded an explanation as to how the man was able to reach Big Ben to scale it in the first place.
“Every day in Parliament I see dozens of armed police officers patrolling Portcullis House [a government office building] and the parliamentary estate. Where were they today?” he asked.
Also on Saturday, US President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland was daubed with pro-Palestinian graffiti, which a protest group later came forward and claimed responsibility for.
Local media showed images of red paint scrawled across walls at the course with the slogans “Free Gaza” and “Free Palestine” as well as insults against Trump.
“Gaza is not for sale,” was also painted on one of the greens and holes dug up on the course.
Palestine Action admitted to causing the damage, writing in a post on X that, “While Trump attempts to treat Gaza as his property, he should know his own property is within reach.”
Last month, Trump enraged the Arab world by declaring unexpectedly that the United States would take over Gaza, resettle its over 2-million Palestinian population, and develop it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Police Scotland said it was investigating the incident.