Pro-Palestine protesters have reportedly occupied the offices of a bank in Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens – with some chaining themselves to the entrance of the car park. Footage showed police trying to cut one of the mob free, while protesters are also understood to have covered the front of the building in red paint, reported the Manchester Evening News.
The property is home to Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon, which campaigners say invests in Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest weapons firm.
Some demonstrators attached themselves to the entrance to the building’s car park and lay down in front of it.
Police are currently at the scene and at least one individual was seen being taken away by police in handcuffs.
Protests have flared up in Manchester for months, since conflict broke out after the Hamas terror attack on Israeli civilians on October 7. Thousands have died in the fighting which followed.
Protesters say they have targeted the BNY building because they expected the visit of a New York-based executive today. The campaigners are part of Palestine Action.
Last Saturday (February 24), saw huge crowds gather outside Media City in Salford. Organisers said ‘thousands’ of people attended the protest led by children who left toys, clothes and shoes.
Children were encouraged to attend the demonstration to highlight the ‘horrific’ numbers of young lives lost in Gaza.
Palestinians from Gaza displayed photos of their family members who were killed by Israel’s bombings, including in previous conflicts in 2014 and 2009.
There were five police vans on the scene as of 11am.
Express.co.uk has approached Greater Manchester Police for more details.
Speaking yesterday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed Britain was descending into “mob rule” because of the pressures created by protests against the Israel-Hamas war – words criticised as alarmist by a human rights group.
The Prime Minister told a meeting of police leaders that there was a ”pattern of increasingly violent and intimidatory behaviour” which was intended to “shout down free debate and stop elected representatives doing their job”.
According to a transcript released by Number 10, there was “a growing consensus that mob rule is replacing democratic rule,” Mr Sunak said.
He reportedly added: “And we’ve got to collectively, all of us, change that urgently.”
Tom Southerden of Amnesty International said today talk of mob rule “wildly exaggerates the issue and risks delegitimising the rights of peaceful protest.”
