Four Greenpeace activists unfurl a banner saying “Lammy don’t dally” – calling for Foreign Secretary David Lammy to sign the Global Ocean Treaty into UK law – after scaling the King Charles Street Archway, outside the Foreign Office in Westminster, central London, April 3, 2025
FOUR Greenpeace activists were arrested today after scaling a building outside the Foreign Office in protest over delays in signing an international treaty protecting oceans.
The protesters unfurled a banner as they suspended themselves from columns on the King Charles Street Archway in Westminster before coming down voluntarily.
Three men and one woman were safely detained and arrested under Section 1 of the Public Order Act, and on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage, the Metropolitan Police said.
The group called for faster action from Foreign Secretary David Lammy in signing the Global Ocean Treaty, with the banner bearing a turtle and the legend: “Lammy Don’t Dally!”
The treaty, which aims to protect large areas of marine life by putting stricter regulations on deep-sea mining and fishing, was first agreed in March 2023 and has been ratified by 21 countries so far, ahead of the United Nations Ocean Conference in June.
London Luton Airport hopes to almost double annual passenger numbers to 32 million by 2043 after the government approved expansion plans, including a new terminal.
It came despite the Planning Inspectorate recommending Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander rejected them over environmental concerns.
Luton Rising, the airport’s owner, said the decision could bring “significant economic, employment and social benefits for our town”.
However, environmental campaigners said “with climate change worsening, the last thing any of us need is 70,000 more aircraft a year”.
Luton was the UK’s fifth busiest airport last year, with 16.9 million people travelling on 132,000 flights.
The expansion plans involve building a new terminal, new taxiways and increasing capacity in the existing terminal, from its current 18 million passengers a year.
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A spokesman for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “pleased” with the decision.
Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Palestinians grieve over the bodies of their relatives, who were killed by an Israeli air strike, as they prepare for burial at a hospital in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, April 2, 2025
Meanwhile, Labour government toughens rhetoric against the genocide, but stops short of making any changes in policy or practical support for Israel
ISRAEL is expanding its invasion of Gaza to seize “large areas” to “crush and clean the area,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced today.
The move came as Gaza’s hospitals reported that an overnight air strike killed more than 50 people, with nearly a dozen being children and a United Nations clinic among the targets.
Mr Katz said the military’s latest offensive in the war-torn strip would involve “seizing large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel.”
He did not specify which areas of Gaza would be taken over, but called on Gaza residents to “expel Hamas and return all hostages.”
His statement came after Israel ordered the full evacuation of the southern city of Rafah and nearby areas.
The attack was discussed in Parliament today, where Labour toughened its rhetoric against Israel’s actions, but stopped short of offering the slightest change in policy or the practical support it is affording the genocide.
MPs across the Commons pressed the government to be more robust.
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said that Israel’s actions were “not about security, but about domination and erasure” of Palestinians.
Asking an urgent Commons question, Ms Denyer accused Israel of “the worst blockade since the war began” and stressed “what is happening is a genocide.”
When, she asked, would the government “take measures under international law against ongoing genocide, illegal occupation and apartheid?”
No time soon was the response from Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer.
The unnecessarily violent police intervention at a Quaker place of worship is a PR disaster and will only serve to deepen the chasm between them and the public. SYMON HILL reports
THE police raid on a Quaker place of worship last week was not about preventing crime or arresting criminals. It was an attempt to intimidate peaceful protesters. It will not succeed.
At about 7.15pm on Thursday March 27, at least 20 police officers broke down the door of Westminster Quaker Meeting House in St Martin’s Lane in London. They could have just rung the doorbell.
The police, some armed with tasers, charged into a room where the non-violent protest group Youth Demand were holding a welcome talk. Women in their late teens and early twenties were grabbed and handcuffed behind their backs.
They swarmed through the rest of the building, entering every room, including one that had been hired by a life drawing class and even a room where a private counselling session was taking place.
This horrific incident was made possible by the draconian anti-protest laws introduced by the previous Tory government and maintained by their Labour successors. The police reportedly used the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act as they arrested six women. The youngest was 18.
When the Act was passed in 2022, we were told that the police would use it only in extreme situations. That promise is now as broken as Westminster Meeting House’s door.
In their media statement, the Metropolitan Police said that Youth Demand are planning civil disobedience in London. In recent years there has been a noticeable increase in campaigners being arrested for things they are only talking about doing. Even so, this went further.
This Youth Demand gathering was a welcome talk. It was a public event, open to people who had never even considered engaging in civil disobedience before. The police arrested other Youth Demand members in London and Exeter on the same day.
The police’s thuggery seems designed to intimidate Youth Demand from going ahead with their plans for April. The police may hope that the publicity around the raid will deter others from joining in.
Typically, the police have seriously underestimated the determination of people whose rights are denied.
