{"id":719794,"date":"2026-01-25T13:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T13:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/719794\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T13:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T13:09:14","slug":"dozens-arrested-in-support-of-palestine-hunger-strikers-at-london-prison-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/719794\/","title":{"rendered":"Dozens arrested in support of Palestine hunger strikers at London prison | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eighty-six people have been arrested in the United Kingdom after gathering at a London prison in support of a Palestine Action-linked activist on hunger strike<\/a> and in a perilous condition who is being held there, police say.<\/p>\n

London\u2019s Metropolitan Police wrote on X late on Saturday that officers were dispatched to Prison Wormwood Scrubs, where protesters \u201crefused to leave the grounds when ordered to do so\u201d.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

Inside Wormwood Scrubs is Umer Khalid, a 22-year-old pro-Palestine activist who stopped eating 16 days ago. He had been on hunger strike since November, briefly pausing in December due to severe ill health.<\/p>\n

The group \u201callegedly blocked prison staff from entering and leaving, threatened police officers and a number managed to get inside a staff entrance area of a prison building\u201d, the police said.<\/p>\n

Videos of the incident verified by Al Jazeera show police officers shoving protesters to the ground and handcuffing them as shouts ring out in the background. Two groups of police also appeared to kettle protesters \u2013 a police tactic that involves officers surrounding and closing in on a group of demonstrators in an effort to contain them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are you assaulting me?\u201d a woman can be heard asking at one point.<\/p>\n

Those arrested were detained under suspicion of aggravated trespass, the police said.<\/p>\n

Khalid told Al Jazeera<\/a> last week that he planned to escalate his hunger strike to exclude all fluids starting on Saturday, the day of the protest.<\/p>\n

After speaking with him on Monday by phone, Khalid\u2019s mother, Shabana Khalid, told Al Jazeera that a prison guard remains outside his cell in case he needs urgent medical attention. She added that he is also being monitored closely with hourly medical observations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m reassured in one sense,\u201d she said, \u201cbut the fact he\u2019s on [hunger strike] still is quite scary. He\u2019s starting to get tired. You can hear in his voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Umer Khalid is among a group of five activists accused of breaking into<\/a> the United Kingdom\u2019s largest airbase, Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire in June and spray-painting two Voyager refuelling and transport planes. The group has pleaded not guilty<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the time, the pro-Palestine protest group Palestine Action said two of its members were involved and red paint \u201csymbolising Palestinian bloodshed was also sprayed across the runway and a Palestine flag was left on the scene\u201d.<\/p>\n

Within days, the UK government moved to ban the group<\/a> under \u201cantiterrorism\u201d laws and made it illegal to support or promote the group.<\/p>\n

The decision \u2013 which has been challenged in court and heavily criticised as \u201cunjustified\u201d by the United Nations \u2013 has led to multiple<\/a> protests<\/a> with hundreds of arrests in the months since.<\/p>\n

Ongoing hunger strikes<\/p>\n

Aside from Umer Khalid, seven other protesters have been involved in rolling hunger strikes since November.<\/p>\n

Khalid became the only one still refusing food after three members of the group ended their protests<\/a> this month. They said one of their demands had been met after a UK-based subsidiary of the Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems was denied a UK government contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur prisoners\u2019 hunger strike will be remembered as a landmark moment of pure defiance; an embarrassment for the British state,\u201d the Prisoners for Palestine Group said.<\/p>\n

Two of the prisoners who concluded their hunger strikes, Heba Muraisi and Kamran Ahmed, were on the brink of death<\/a> after more than two months without food. Still, Muraisi told Al Jazeera<\/a> in the days before the announcement that she felt \u201cit\u2019s important to fight for justice and for freedom\u201d.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s list of demands<\/a> includes bail, the right to a fair trial and the de-proscription of Palestine Action as well as for Elbit sites to be closed in the UK. They\u2019re also seeking an end to what they call censorship in prison, accusing authorities of withholding mail, calls, books and visitation rights.<\/p>\n

Before starting to refuse liquids on Saturday, Umer Khalid told Al Jazeera: \u201cThe only thing that seems to have any impact, whether that is positive or negative, is drastic action.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe strike reflects the severity of this imprisonment,\u201d he added. \u201cBeing in this prison is not living life. Our lives have been paused. The world spins, and we sit in a concrete room. This strike reflects the severity of my demands.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eighty-six people have been arrested in the United Kingdom after gathering at a London prison in support of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":719795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,299,4884,7424,257,12,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-719794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-israel-palestine-conflict","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115955902855681028","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=719794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}