Six people are in custody on Sunday as Metropolitan Police detectives investigate a plot to disrupt the London Stock Exchange, authorities said.
The police said the arrests were made in Brighton, Liverpool, and London.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police in the U.K. said the allegations are that activists from the Palestine Action group were intending to target the LSE on Monday, “causing damage and ‘locking on’ in an effort to prevent the building opening for trading.”
A representative from the LSE said they had no comment but noted that no trading takes place at London Stock Exchange itself. Equity trading is fully electronic, and there hasn’t been a physical trading floor since 1986.
A representative from Palestine Action said in an email: “The London Stock Exchange raise billions of pounds for apartheid Israel and trade shares in weapons manufacturers which arm Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people. Whilst Britain remains complicit in the brutal colonisation of Palestine, our direct action campaign will not be deterred.”
The arrests were made earlier Sunday, the police said. The Metropolitan Police added that they are in touch with City of London Police and other forces in the U.K. after a suggestion that this was one part of a planned week of action “to ensure that appropriate resources are in place to deal with any disruption.”