Fury as cops smash down door of Quaker meeting house to arrest women sitting in circle eating hummus and bread sticks
NEARLY 30 cops armed with Tasers smashed their way into a Quaker meeting house and arrested six young women who they suspected of planning a protest.
The doors at the Westminster branch of the religious group were broken down as the group sat in a circle, eating hummus and breadsticks, discussing climate change and Gaza.
It's believed to be the first time in history that police have forced their way into a Quaker place of worship.
The women, aged between 18 and 38, were having a "welcome meeting" for Youth Demand at the house on St Martin's Lane in London.
The non-violent protest group believes the UK should stop arming Israel and cancel all new oil and gas granted since 2021.
The cops handcuffed the unsuspecting women and took them to the police station. Their student accommodation was also raided and searched.
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A spokesperson for the Met said the six women had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance.
None have been charged as of yet.
The Met said: “Youth Demand has stated an intention to ‘shut down’ London over the [coming] month.
"While we absolutely recognise the importance of the right to protest, we have a responsibility to intervene to prevent activity that crosses the line from protest into serious disruption and other criminality.
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"On Thursday, officers raided a Youth Demand planning meeting at an address in Westminster where those in attendance were plotting their April action.”
Paul Parker, recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, said this is the first time in living memory that an arrest was made within a Quaker meeting house.
He said: “This aggressive violation of our place of worship and the forceful removal of young people holding a protest group meeting clearly shows what happens when a society criminalises protest.
“I don’t think the British public wants to see people being dragged out of places of worship when they’re sitting peacefully sharing their concerns about climate breakdown and the situation in the Middle East."
He has also demanded an apology from the Met for causing damage to the building, as well as the "spiritual and emotional" principles of the group.
The Quakers have existed as a religious group that supports non-violent protests since the mid-17th century. They follow a religious tradition that formed from Protestant Christianity in the UK.
Thursday's raid is the latest in a string of incidents of apparent police overreaction.
On Friday it emerged a mother and father were arrested by six police officers after complaining about a school in a WhatsApp group.
Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine were led away by cops after raising concerns over the way the new head teacher at their daughter's school had been recruited.
The couple were escorted from their home in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, by six police officers before being locked in a cell for eight hours.
They aired their frustrations in a school WhatsApp group after claiming they had not been allowed to meet with teachers to discuss their nine-year-old daughter's medical conditions.
Their daughter, Sascha, suffers from epilepsy and is neurodivergent.
Hertfordshire Police conducted a five-week investigation into their actions before deciding there was no case to answer.
The couple told of their harrowing ordeal after being taken from their homes on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications, and causing a nuisance on school property.
Maxie described how the large number of police outside his home would have had people thinking they were "raiding a terror cell or drug den".
He said: "I would like to know how [Hertfordshire Police] made that decision, that that was the appropriate and necessary operation.
"I don't know if we're the first parents to have an experience like this, but I hope we're the last."
This comes after a woman in Leceistershire was visited by police over accusations that she was illegally foraging for rare mushrooms.
Louise Gather said an officer had attempted to issue her with a community resolution report.
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She was accused of visiting Bradgate Park to pick magpie inkcaps.
The 38-year-old insisted that she hadn't collected any of the rare fungus and branded the force's approach "a bit excessive".
