Tower Bridge in London was forced to close on Saturday for nearly an hour due to a pro-Palestine demonstration. City of London Police shut the historic landmark to vehicles and pedestrians at around 5.30pm, citing protest activity.
Some activists were seen lighting flares and waving Palestinian flags while calling for a ceasefire to the conflict in Gaza, according to footage on social media. The bridge reopened at approximately 6.25pm, with police thanking the Metropolitan Police for their assistance.
The protest comes amid increased activism by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, whose director Ben Jamal defended the right to lobby MPs “in large numbers”. He said thousands of people were “shamefully” denied entry into Parliament on Wednesday as they attempted to lobby MPs to vote in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Jamal told a crowd of demonstrators in the buildup to Wednesday’s protest, as reported by The Times: “We want so many of you to come that they will have to lock the doors of parliament itself.” In a statement, he noted that over 80,000 people emailed their MPs ahead of the ceasefire debate, and more than 3,000 came to lobby in person, one of the largest physical lobbies of Parliament in history.
He criticised the denial of entry to most, who queued for over four hours in the rain, and addressed reports that MPs’ safety was used as a rationale to alter normal Commons procedures. “The issue of MPs’ security is serious but cannot be used to shield MPs from democratic accountability,” Jamal added.
