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BREAKING: police kettle, violently arrest over 20 protesters – including Canary journalist

Wormwood Scrubs

Police have violently arrested at least 20 people who were peacefully protesting outside Wormwood Scrubs prison. The demonstrators had gathered in a show of support for political prisoner Umer Khalid, who has added a thirst strike to his ongoing hunger strike against the Starmer regime’s contempt for Palestinian lives and UK justice. One of those the Met arrested was Canary videographer Ibrahim Abul-Essad, who was there working as a journalist.

Wormwood Scrubs: arrests ongoing

At around 10pm, police ‘kettled’ the protesters, preventing them from leaving peacefully. Canary sources on the ground say police then started picking off protesters one by one. Cops were heard saying ‘arrest now, find evidence later’. According to messenger channels run by protest groups, the arrests are still continuing as of 11:30pm:

 

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Eye witnesses told the Canary that, as of 11:30pm, it seemed the Met Police were intending to arrest everyone behind the kettle; potentially up to 50 people. Yet reports say numerous people within that were journalists. Essad, who is a videographer for the Canary, was arrested despite not being part of the protest and standing on the other side of the road at the time.

Photographer ‘Betterthanreal’ captured the police kettling the peaceful demonstrators:

The Canary has spoken to multiple people on the ground at Wormwood Scrubs – including Skwawkbox’s photojournalist – who confirm that protesters were not threatening police. One said:

A group or around 50 activists went to demonstrate to wormwood Scrubs shortly after 8pm on Saturday Jan 24 to show support for Umer Kahlid, now refusing water.

The group carried placards, flags, there were some drums and lots of megaphones. There was chanting, repeated slogans supporting Umer and his demands and sense of optimistic defiance.

There was filming by shadowy figures who seemed to belong to the prison service, and after around 30 minutes police vans started arriving and police started lining up in a show of force.
Their numbers and their entire demeanour was calculated to intimidate but I saw no aggression by the demonstrators. There was a standoff for 15-20 minutes while the demonstrators grouped near the side entrance and the police occupied the forecourt and blocked the exits to the road. It appeared the police were not there to discuss or give warnings, they were stony-faced and appeared in increasing numbers.

The demonstrators then left as a group, marching in a column through the main gate, where they were suddenly confronted by a line of police barring their way, and they were told that nobody could leave.
I heard two of the police discussing the situation, they said everyone could be arrested for aggravated trespass but they needed to look at the evidence before starting the arrests. Several police had been filming everyone from the moment they arrived.

I either heard nor saw any aggressive actions by the demonstrators towards the police, no shouting, no gestures, nothing. The police were always in complete control of the relatively small group whose main actions had been to wave flags and banners, and chant slogans.

Typically, the Met Police’s story is the opposite of what is happening on the ground. While police have prevented people leaving, the Met’s social media claim the arrests are because people are refusing to leave and were threatening police:

Video footage clearly shows police bottling up protesters and preventing them leaving:

Also true to form, disgraced pro-Israel agitators are egging on the police:

If the police aggression – like at Wormwood Scrubs – has followed the pattern of previous instances, there may well also be pro-Israel figures directing officers whom to arrest.

The Canary will be keeping up to date with this developing story across our social media channels.

Featured image via screengrab – Betty Dempsey

By Skwawkbox

This post was originally published on Canary.