London: A man who scaled London’s Big Ben, and spent the day perched on the historic clock tower with a Palestinian flag, was arrested shortly after he came down after midnight Sunday, police said.
Pictures from the scene showed a cherry picker transporting him to waiting emergency crews on the ground.
London’s Metropolitan Police force, which was first alerted to the climber around 0700 GMT Saturday, said the man was arrested after the “protracted incident.”
The man spent the day perched barefoot on a ledge several meters up the landmark, even as emergency crews urged him to come down from the Elizabeth Tower in central London, more commonly known for its clock bell, Big Ben.
Negotiators had boarded a fire truck lift and used a megaphone to speak with the man, but footage on social media showed the figure in a hoodie and baseball cap saying: “I will come down on my own terms.”
In the footage, negotiators indicated concerns about an injury to his foot, saying there was “quite a lot of blood” and that his clothes were not warm enough as temperatures dropped after nightfall.
AFP journalists at the scene earlier said the man appeared to be bleeding from his foot.
Crowds gathered from behind a police cordon, with supporters chanting “Free Palestine” and “you are a hero.”
Police had closed off the surrounding area, including Westminster Bridge, while the Houses of Parliament canceled tours.
Westminster police later said all roads in the area had been reopened.
“Every day in Parliament I see dozens of armed police officers patrolling Portcullis House and the parliamentary estate. Where were they today?” Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty posted on X.
“On Monday there needs to be a full explanation to MPs and staff as to how this protester was able to evade security so easily.”
On Friday night, pro-Palestinian protesters sprayed “GAZA IS NOT 4 SALE” in huge white letters on the lawn of US President Donald Trump’s golf resort in Scotland.
The Palestine Action group said it was a “direct response to the US administration’s stated intent to ethnically cleanse Gaza.”
Police Scotland told AFP it was investigating after receiving a report of damage.
Man with Palestinian flag arrested after scaling London’s Big Ben
https://arab.news/8vy5h
Man with Palestinian flag arrested after scaling London’s Big Ben
- Negotiators indicated concerns about an injury to his foot, saying there was “quite a lot of blood” and that his clothes were not warm enough
Pope Leo XIV visits Vatican’s hilltop summer residence that Francis turned into museum
Pope Urban VIII built the palace on the northern end of town in 1624
ROME: Pope Leo XIV visited the papal summer palace south of Rome on Thursday as questions swirled whether he will use it himself to escape the heat or follow in Pope Francis’ footsteps and keep the hilltop estate as a museum and environmental center.
Leo paid a visit to the Borgo Laudato Si, an educational sustainability project that grew out of Francis’ 2015 environmental encyclical “Praised Be,” the Vatican said. The center is located in the gardens of the Vatican’s Castel Gandolfo property on Lake Alban in the hills south of Rome.
Pope Urban VIII built the palace on the northern end of town in 1624, to give popes an escape from the sweltering Roman summers. It was enlarged over succeeding pontificates to its present size of 55 hectares (136 acres), which is actually bigger than Vatican City itself.
Popes past used it regularly in summer, and Pope Benedict XVI famously closed out his papacy in the estate on Feb. 28, 2013. But Francis, a homebody who never took a proper vacation during his 12-year pontificate, decided to remain in Rome in summer.
In 2014 he decided to open Castel Gandolfo’s gardens to the public, and later turned part of the palazzo itself into a museum, in part to help offset the economic downturn the town experienced with no popes holding weekly Sunday prayers there in summer.
Leo, a former missionary priest who spent the bulk of his priesthood in Peru, hasn’t said where he will live full-time in Rome, much less whether he will use the palace as a summer getaway.
The sustainability project, which is open to the public, has taken over operations of the working farm in the gardens of the estate, which includes 20 hectares (50 acres) of agricultural and farming land, greenhouses and service buildings.
The farm, which provides dairy and fresh produce to the Vatican, aims to create a “circular economy” in keeping with the call of Francis’ encyclical to better care for God’s creation.
Jailed ex-aide to Georgia kingpin claims he was snatched abroad
- The case has intensified scrutiny of the role of Ivanishvili in Georgian politics
- Speaking at a court hearing Thursday, Bachiashvii said he had been blindfolded and held incommunicado for two days
TBILISI: An ex-aide to Georgia’s powerful tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili said on Thursday that he had been snatched while abroad, forcibly flown back to Georgia, and arrested on his former boss’s orders.
Giorgi Bachiashvili, the former head of Ivanishvili’s Co-Investment Fund, fled Georgia in March amid mounting legal troubles following a falling out with the country’s most powerful man.
The case has intensified scrutiny of the role of Ivanishvili — who wields enormous influence behind the scenes — in Georgian politics.
Georgia’s state security service said Tuesday it had arrested Bachiashvili, a dual Georgian-Russian national, inside Georgia, near the border with Azerbaijan, following an anonymous tip.
But speaking at a court hearing Thursday, Bachiashvii said he had been blindfolded and held incommunicado for two days in an undisclosed country before being forced onto a plane and flown back to Georgia “in complete violation of the law.”
“Acting on Bidzina Ivanishvili’s orders, Georgian officials resorted to banditry and brought me back to Georgia through abduction,” he said.
While abroad Bachiashvili, had been sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison for alleged embezzlement and money laundering.
“I consider myself absolutely innocent of all charges. Today it became clear that I am a personal prisoner of Ivanishvili,” he told the court.
His lawyer Robert Amsterdam has denounced the case as politically motivated and accused the Georgian authorities of abusing international legal tools to persecute dissenters.
Widely seen as Georgia’s key power broker, billionaire Ivanishvili is the founder and honorary chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
He holds enormous sway over the party and the government, including the formal power to nominate its choice of prime minister.
Georgian Dream, in power for more than a decade, has been accused by critics of steering the country away from the West and toward Russia — a claim it denies.
Georgia was gripped by mass protests for weeks last year following a disputed parliamentary election in October and the government’s subsequent decision to freeze its EU membership bid.
Tens of thousands demonstrate in Nepal seeking restoration of ousted monarchy
- Massive street protests in 2006 forced Gyanendra to give up his authoritarian rule, and two years later the parliament voted to abolish the monarchy
KATHMANDU: Tens of thousands of protesters demanding the abolished monarchy be restored and the former king be made the head of state of the Himalayan nation demonstrated in Nepal Thursday.
The protesters, waving flags and chanting slogans, demanded the return of the king and the restoration of Hinduism as a state religion as they marched through the main circle in the capital, Kathmandu.
Just a few hundred meters (feet) from the pro-monarchy protesters, their opponents, who are supporters of the Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, had gathered at the exhibition grounds to celebrate Republic Day.
There was fear that these two groups could likely clash and create trouble in the city. Hundreds of riot police kept the two groups apart and authorities had given them permission on different times to take out their rallies.
Nepal abolished the monarchy and turned the nation into a republic in 2008, bringing in a president as the head of the state.
“Bring king back to the throne and save the country. We love our king more than our lives,” the estimated 20,000 protesters chanted with a few playing traditional drums and musical instruments.
“We are going to continue our protests until the centuries-old monarchy is brought back and the country turned in to a Hindu stage for the interest of the country,” said Dil Nath Giri, a supporter of the former king at the rally.
The pro-monarchy supporters had announced they were restarting their protests from Thursday.
In their last big protest on March 28, two people including a television cameraman, were killed when protesters attacked buildings and set them on fire while police fired bullets and tear gas on the protesters. Several protesters arrested on that day are still in jail.
There has been growing demand in recent months for Gyanendra Shah to be reinstated as king and Hinduism to be brought back as a state religion. Royalist groups accuse the country’s major political parties of corruption and failed governance and say people are frustrated with politicians.
Massive street protests in 2006 forced Gyanendra to give up his authoritarian rule, and two years later the parliament voted to abolish the monarchy.
Gyanendra, who left the Royal Palace to live as commoner, has not commented on the calls for the return of monarchy. Despite growing support, the former king has little chance of immediately returning to power.
Russia slams Israeli attacks on Gaza as ‘collective punishment’ of civilians
MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday slammed Israeli attacks on Gaza as “collective punishment of the civilian population,” in some of Moscow’s strongest criticism of Israel as it steps up its offensive.
Lavrov said “measures taken by Israel” in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas “constitute collective punishment of the civilian population,” calling what was happening in Gaza “incomprehensible and indescribable.”
Marcos orders all CEOs of Philippine government-owned corporations to quit
- Last week, Marcos requested all his Cabinet secretaries to render their resignations
- Reshuffle follows his allies’ recent failure to secure majority of contested Senate seats
MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered all ranking executives of government-owned and controlled corporations to resign, days after asking his Cabinet members to step down.
All appointed chairpersons, CEOs, directors, trustees, and members of governing boards of government-owned and controlled corporations were asked to “immediately submit their respective courtesy resignations to the President through the Office of the Executive Secretary,” according to a notice from the Governance Commission for GOCCs, which was released on Wednesday.
The move follows Marcos’ request last week for his government members to render their resignations as he attempted to address the public’s dissatisfaction over his administration’s performance.
Most of his Cabinet secretaries have either immediately submitted their resignations or expressed their readiness to do so.
“This process is part of a rigorous and ongoing evaluation of government performance not only at the Cabinet level but across the entire bureaucracy,” Lucas Bersamin, executive secretary of the Philippines — the head and highest-ranking official of the Office of the President — told reporters on Thursday.
“The people expect results, and the president has no patience for underperformance. In line with this, the president has also instructed the heads of government-owned and controlled corporations to submit their courtesy resignations. He has further indicated that senior officials will likewise be included in the continuing review.”
Marcos’ decision to reshuffle the Cabinet and leadership of state-owned corporations follows his allies’ failure to secure a majority of contested Senate seats in the May 12 midterm elections, raising questions about his weakened mandate for the remaining three years of his term, which ends in 2028.
The son of the late Philippine dictator who was overthrown in 1986, Marcos won the presidency by a landslide in 2022 after campaigning on a message of national unity and presenting himself as a candidate of change.
Public support for the 67-year-old leader has, however, dropped sharply this year, with Pulse Asia surveys showing his approval rating falling to 25 percent in March, from 42 percent in February.
The survey showed that a majority of Filipinos disapproved of the Marcos administration’s handling of the most pressing issues, including controlling inflation and combating corruption, with disapproval rates at 79 percent and 53 percent, respectively.
The bureaucrats and executives affected by the president’s decision will continue in their roles unless and until the Office of the President issues further directives or formally acts on their resignations.
“All these people who offered their courtesy resignations are expected to continue performing their functions, discharging their duties until their replacements have been appointed,” Bersamin said.
“And that is expected of all public servants; no one abandons because that is part of the obligation of a public servant.”
