On Tuesday, around 10 emergency personnel with two fire engines and a cherry picker were called at around 8:14 a.m. local time to assist with a tower-climbing demonstrator. He wore a black to-shirt saying “no to war” and had a banner with the logo of pro-democracy group Freedom Movement of Iran. Photo by Lindsey Parnaby/EPA
Sept. 2 (UPI) — A nearly four-hour standoff on Tuesday ended in London after a man climbed the clock tower at King’s Cross train station with a dog in protest over freedom for Iranians.
Around 10 emergency personnel with two fire engines and a cherry picker were called at around 8:14 a.m. local time to assist with the situation, according to officials.
The unidentified demonstrator wore a black to-shirt saying “no to war” and had a banner with the logo of pro-democracy group Freedom Movement of Iran, which is outlawed the Iranian regime in Tehran.
The unfurled banner written in the Farsi language that in English said: “Iran belongs to its people. Freedom for Iran. Every deal with them against human rights. Dictators exert terror and poverty.”
“Officers were called to King’s Cross railway station at around 8 a.m. following reports of a person in a precarious position,” British Transport Police said earlier in the day.
Officers remain on scene at King’s Cross railway station after being called to reports of a person in a precarious position earlier this morning.
The incident is ongoing and officers are working alongside other emergency services to bring the incident to a safe conclusion. pic.twitter.com/PqfFnBW4PP— British Transport Police (@BTP) September 2, 2025
At the time officials in London said the incident was ongoing and officers were in attendance alongside other emergency services “working to bring the incident to a safe conclusion,” they added.
Firefighters scurried up the cherry picker in attempts to talk down the activist on the rainy Tuesday as he held what appeared to be a Pomeranian dog after scaling the tower at around 8 a.m. local time.
After about three hours he was convinced to pass over the dog to emergency officials.
Meanwhile, King’s Cross remained open for passengers using side entrances to avoid emergency personnel.
The tower-climbing demonstrator was taken down a little before Noon after going on for hours.
It came the same day the British government issued a warning to more than 130,000 overseas students threatening deportation if they overstayed in response to what Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government claimed was an “alarming” surge in asylum claims from people who entered the country on student visas.