The Metropolitan Police in London have arrested the UK head of Greenpeace along with five others for vandalising a pond at US embassy. McCallum, Greenpeace UK’s co-executive director, and his associates poured blood red dye in the pond in the high security area protesting against sale of weapons by the US to Israel.
Greenpeace said it had poured 300 litres of biodegradable dye into the water outside the building in Nine Elms, southwest London. The activists have been arrested on charges of criminal damage and conspiracy to cause criminal damage. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The activists had entered the premises disguised as delivery agents, and carried large containers with the dye on bicycles with trailers. Visuals show them with the containers with the slogan ‘Stop arming Israel’. In other photos, they are seen pouring the red dye into the water body from the containers.
Areeba Hamid, co-executive director at Greenpeace, said that the group “took this action because US weapons continue to fuel an indiscriminate war that’s seen bombs dropped on schools and hospitals, entire neighbourhoods blasted to rubble, and tens of thousands of Palestinian lives obliterated.”
She claimed that they used biodegradable pond dye that is designed to disperse and wash away naturally.
A Met Police spokesperson said that the activists tried to flee after the vandalism but the cops on duty at the US Embassy arrested the suspects in the nearby areas. The police added that the pond is accessible via a public footpath, and there was no breach or attempted breach of the secure perimeter of the site.
