Man with Palestinian Flag Climbs Big Ben Tower
London, March 09 (QNA) – A man who climbed up Big Ben Tower carrying a Palestinian flag and the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarf has been brought down after more than 16 hours.
The barefoot man had made his way on to a ledge several metres up the tower at the Palace of Westminster on Saturday.
Emergency crews went up in a crane to negotiate with him, and the intruder eventually came down in the cherry picker after Big Ben struck midnight, according to (BBC).
He had filmed his climb and said that he was protesting against “police repression and state violence”.
The Met Police says officers were called to the tower. The incident led to the closure of Westminster Bridge and the cancellation of Parliament tours.
At least nine emergency service vehicles lined Bridge Street in central London as crowds looked on from beyond a police cordon.
Three emergency personnel were lifted several metres up on a fire brigade aerial ladder platform, with one person using a megaphone to speak to the man on the ledge.
The incident began when the man got into the grounds of Parliament, walked up some steps, quickly climbed onto a railing, and up the side of the Tower.
At one point he took his shoes off to enable him to climb higher to a ledge. He injured his feet, and patches of blood could be seen on the stonework of the tower.
The man was spotted within minutes by police on the ground, who asked if he was able to get down safely.
Photographs throughout the day showed him sitting on the ledge with the flag and wrapped a traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarf around the decorative stonework on the tower.
Tours of the Parliamentary Estate were cancelled as emergency services responded to the incident. (QNA)
Source: