Big Ben clock tower incident expected to continue overnight as man stays put
The man, who is barefoot and holds a Palestine flag, has been spoken to by negotiators several times but at 10.30pm had not yet agreed to come down.
An incident involving a man who scaled the clock tower of Big Ben on Saturday morning is expected to continue into Sunday as negotiators have been unable to convince him to come down.
The man, who is barefoot and holding a Palestine flag, has been spoken to by negotiators several times but at 10.30pm had not yet agreed to come down from Elizabeth Tower.
The scene remained busy with emergency crews, with dozens of uniformed police officers guarding the cordon which extended from Bridge Street to Westminster Bridge.
Two aerial ladder platforms, an incident response unit ambulance, regular ambulances and two fire engines were still at the scene late on Saturday.
In a video posted on Instagram on Saturday evening, the man told negotiators from the ledge he was sat on that he would come down “on his own terms”.
In the footage, negotiators on an aerial ladder platform appear to raise concerns about an injury to his foot, saying there is “quite a lot of blood” and that his clothes are not warm enough as temperatures drop after sunset.
But the man insists he is safe and says: “I will come down on my own terms, I have said this. But right now I am saying I am safe.
“If you come towards me you are putting me in danger and I will climb higher.”
In the afternoon, shouts of “Free Palestine” and “You are a hero” could be heard from a small group of supporters behind the police cordon at Victoria Embankment.
In videos posted on social media earlier on Saturday, the man appeared to climb over a fence surrounding the Houses of Parliament without any security guards approaching him.
Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty said on X there needs to be an explanation about how the man got into the parliamentary estate.
He said: “Every day in Parliament I see dozens of armed police officers patrolling Portcullis House and the parliamentary estate. Where were they today?
“On Monday there needs to be a full explanation to MPs and staff as to how this protester was able to evade security so easily.”
Parliamentary tours, which happen on Saturdays when Parliament is sitting and on weekdays during the summer recess, were cancelled.
A parliamentary spokesperson said: “We are aware of an incident on the parliamentary estate, which is being handled by the Metropolitan Police, assisted by the London Fire Brigade and the London Ambulance Service.
“Parliament takes security extremely seriously, however we do not comment on the specifics of our security measures or mitigations.”
London bus routes 3, 11, 148, C10 and 159 remain on diversion as the road closures continued.
In 2019, an Extinction Rebellion activist wearing a blond wig was arrested after climbing the scaffolding surrounding the clock tower.
Tree surgeon Ben Atkinson climbed the scaffolding surrounding Big Ben dressed as Boris Johnson – complete with a blond wig, shirt, jacket and tie – and was up Elizabeth Tower for around three and a half hours on October 18 2019, before police managed to get him to come down.
Elsewhere, on Friday night, Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland was vandalised by Pro-Palestine activists in response to the US president’s statements on Gaza.
The golf course in South Ayrshire, owned by the US president, was targeted, with activists painting Gaza Is Not For Sale in three-metre high letters on the lawn, and damaging the greens.
Palestine Action described it as a “direct response to the US administration’s stated intent to ethnically cleanse Gaza”.
