UK: Senior Greenpeace official arrested after peaceful protest at US Embassy in London

The Co-Executive Director of Greenpeace UK has been arrested after a peaceful protest at the US Embassy in London against continued US arms sales to Israel. Will McCallum took part in the protest, during which activists from the organisation poured non-toxic, biodegradable, food-grade pond dye into a pond at the embassy to highlight the death and devastation caused in Gaza as a direct result of America’s continued sale of weapons, ammunition and military hardware to the occupation state.

“The dye used doesn’t pose any risk to people, wildlife or the environment,” said Greenpeace UK on its website. The organisation is urging the US and UK governments to stop selling arms to Israel immediately.

“The US showed that it has the power to stop the killing, when it enforced a ceasefire in February,” said Greenpeace. “But even after Israel broke the ceasefire, Donald Trump kept supplying weapons to Israel, approving nearly $12 billion in military sales since January.” The US, it added, supplies two-thirds of Israel’s arms imports.

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In response to McCallum’s arrest, the CEO of Amnesty International UK pointed out that the human rights organisation has “serious concerns” about it.

“The right to peacefully protest is a fundamental human right,” said Sacha Deshmukh. “The police have an obligation to act proportionately and only make arrests when strictly necessary. It is not clear why they thought it was proportionate and necessary to arrest people for adding non-toxic biodegradable dye to a large open-air pond.”

Of even greater concern, added Deshmukh, is the decision to arrest the CEO of a major national NGO on conspiracy charges. “The use of conspiracy charges in this way is a growing trend in policing in this country, which turns participating in organising peaceful protests into a criminal act. It is having a chilling effect on free speech, and our right to protest peacefully.”

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