An offshoot group of Just Stop Oil sprayed red paint on the Labour Party’s head office in central London on Monday in protest against the war in Gaza.
Youth Demand sent five activists to target the exterior and lobby of the building in Southwark shortly before 3pm.
“Labour has blood on their hands,” Youth Demand said. “They are complicit in the murder of Palestinians, and millions of people around the world, as they continue to drive genocide.”
The group called on others to join protests against the war in Gaza and new oil and gas development.
One participant, Chris Faulkner, 21, an earth sciences student from Oxford, accused Sir Keir Starmer of allowing “mass murder” in Gaza.
“Young people will not stand by and watch Keir Starmer allow mass murder by selling weapons to Israel and allowing the development of new oil and gas,” he said.
“Over 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza and the breakdown of our climate will kill hundreds of millions more in the coming decades.”
Ella Taylor, 19, a student from Southampton, said: “Our politicians are out of control.
“They are complicit in genocide and we cannot wait patiently till the election to have our say. If we want change we must take matters into our own hands.”
Youth Demand describes itself as “a new youth resistance campaign fighting for an end to genocide”. It wants a two-way arms embargo on Israel and an end to new oil and gas drilling.
Police made 12 arrests on suspicion of criminal damage.
“At 2.18pm, police were called to an incident of criminal damage in Rushworth Street, SE1, following reports of protesters spraying paint inside and outside of a business property,” a Met spokesman said.
“Officers were on scene within two minutes and have arrested 12 people on suspicion of criminal damage.”
Earlier, about 60 members of the group had marched around central London from Embankment, through Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus to Downing Street and on to Parliament Square.
Outside Parliament, one organiser accused Israel of being “fascist” and said Sir Keir, the Labour leader, was a “war criminal”.
“We won’t be satisfied with a sham democracy and a pathetic reformist programme that says we can’t afford to spend £28 billion on climate when we know we can’t afford not to,” the organiser said as she turned to environmental policies.
Controversial chant
Another demonstrator read out a poem, while one man said the Conservative and Labour parties were “complicit in genocide”.
On the way, the protesters chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – a controversial chant that has been criticised by Jewish groups as anti-Semitic.
They also chanted “Israel is a terrorist state” and “stop the UK war machine”, accompanied by a drum.
Carrying an orange banner saying “Youth demand an end to genocide”, they also chanted: “No more war, no more killing, stop the oil, stop the drilling”. But most chants were about Palestine.
They flew Palestine flags and held placards saying “Youth demand better”, “profit kills” and “Labour Tory genocide enablers”.
Plan to swarm Tube
The group had said it was planning to swarm the Tube network because police had cracked down on protesters blocking roads.
Organiser Pippa Cowtan said before the disturbances that those involved should meet at Victoria Embankment Gardens before descending on Tube stations en masse.
But the group made no attempt to swarm the Tube.
Dominic Nye, the Metropolitan Police chief inspector, said before the protest: “We are working with British Transport Police and Transport for London on a robust policing plan to minimise disruption. Despite meeting with us earlier this year, they [Just Stop Oil] have not engaged with us. Officers will use a full range of powers.”
Labour declined to comment.
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