Dozens arrested after protesters breach London prison grounds

LONDON: Eighty-six people were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass after protesters breached the grounds of a London prison in support of a pro-Palestinian hunger striker, UK police said Sunday.

The group were “protesting in support of a Palestine Action prisoner on a hunger strike” late Saturday and then refused to leave the prison grounds when ordered to do so, London’s Metropolitan Police said on X.

“They allegedly 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,” police said, adding “all those involved” were detained.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson described the incident as “deeply concerning”.

The incident took place outside HMP Wormwood Scrubs in West London, where a man named Muhammad Umer Khalid is being held and has been on hunger strike for over two weeks, according to the campaign group Prisoners for Palestine.

He is one of several people who have been on hunger strike at various points in recent months as they await trial for an alleged break-in and criminal damage on behalf of the Palestine Action campaign group before it was banned under anti-terrorism laws.

Khalid and the others deny those charges and have called for them to be dropped.