A POLICE raid on a Quaker meeting house in central London on Thursday evening has drawn condemnation from politicians and charities, and prompted criticism of the current law on protests.
Six women were arrested during the raid, before later being released without charge. They were taking part in a meeting of the activist group Youth Demand, which is planning protests this month about the changing climate and Gaza. The group is not formally affiliated with the Quaker movement, but had hired a room for that evening’s meeting.
A spokesperson for Quakers in Britain said that the raid took place shortly before 7.15 p.m. More than 20 uniformed police officers, some carrying tasers, broke through the door of Westminster Meeting House, without ringing the bell first.
One of the women who were arrested told The Times: “An officer grabbed my arm, turned me around to face the wall and placed me in handcuffs. Some of the others were sitting down, not doing anything, not resisting, and they were also put in cuffs.”
She said that she was held in police custody for more than 12 hours without being able to make a call, before being released without charge. While she was being held, her student accommodation was searched by police, she said.
An elder of the Westminster Quaker Meeting, Mal Woolford, was on the site at the time of the raid, and characterised the raid as “ridiculously heavy-handed”.
“Apparently not all of [the women] were even involved with the organisation, they were just curious, and they ended up in handcuffs,” he told The Times.
Mal Woolford said that he “had all kinds of conflicting feelings of outrage of why they were here, why there were so many of them, but I wanted to keep the situation calm. The only resistance I could put up was to make tea and drink it in front of them without offering them any.”
On Friday, the recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, Paul Parker, condemned the raid, calling it an “aggressive violation of our place of worship”.
“No one has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house in living memory,” he said, and drew attention to legislation passed in the past three years which restricts the right to protest.
The head of witness and worship for Quakers in Britain, Oliver Robertson, taking this point further on Tuesday, called for the law to be reformed.
“This raid is not an isolated incident. It reflects a growing trend of excessive policing under new laws brought in by the previous government, which are now being enforced by the current administration,” he said.
“This is about the kind of country, the kind of world, we want to live in. Quakers believe that all people are equal, and for that to be a reality, we need laws that enable participation rather than suppress it.”
A former Conservative Party minister, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, also criticised the actions of the police. “There has long been a tradition in this country of taking a view that religious spaces should not be invaded by the forces of law and order unless absolutely necessary,” he said on Monday.
The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, was asked about the raid on Sunday. The police had “operational independence”, she said, and declined to comment specifically on Thursday’s raid.
Christian Aid’s Head of UK Advocacy and Campaigns, Jennifer Larbie, said that the charity was “very concerned” about the raid and “stands in solidarity with those committed to peaceful, nonviolent action towards global justice.
“Like many faith communities, Westminster Quakers offered their spiritual home as a safe space for those working for peace — a simple act of hope in a broken world. The raid is a worrying sign of the criminalisation of protest in the UK and sends a chilling message to young people who want to use their voice to demand change for good.”
Youth Demand is planning a month of protests in London, starting on Tuesday. The group is calling for a trade embargo on Israel and increased taxes on the “super rich and fossil fuel elite”.
More than 200 people have been in contact since the police raid to express interest in joining the actions, the group says.
Other members of the group have been arrested in recent days, The Guardian reports. Eddie Whittingham, who was arrested at home in Exeter last week, told the newspaper: “It’s kind of baffling but also affirming that the police believe a bunch of young people taking actions like this are worth the sort of resources they are devoting to these raids.”
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “Youth Demand have stated an intention to ‘shut down’ London over the month of April using tactics including ‘swarming’ and road blocks.
“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.”
