Pro-Palestinian activists splattered the BBC New Broadcasting House in London with red paint to protest the network’s “biased” reporting on events in Israel and Gaza.
Journalist Victoria Derbyshire posted footage on Saturday showing the front of the Broadcasting House with its revolving doors and right wall covered in blood-red paint.
UK-based Palestine Action claimed responsibility for the damage on Twitter, saying it had “left a message overnight for the BBC.”
The group tweeted: “Spreading the occupation’s lies and manufacturing consent for Israel’s war crimes means (sic) you have Palestinian blood on your hands. #ShutBBCDown.”
Later in the day, it tweeted: “Palestine Action sprayed the BBC with blood-red paint, symbolizing their complicity in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people through biased reporting.”
Earlier in the day, there appeared to be unsuccessful attempts to clean the paint off the building, the Telegraph reported.
The vandalism occurred before a pro-Palestine march that began in front of the building at noon. Palestine Action describes itself as a “direct action network dismantling British complicity in Israeli apartheid.”
Thousands of people rallied Saturday in central London for a pro-Palestinian protest following police warnings that anyone showing support for the militant group Hamas could face arrest.
Attendees, who gathered near BBC News’ headquarters through the morning, began a march through the British capital ahead of an afternoon rally near parliament and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street office and residence.
Some displayed Palestinian flags and placards — bearing slogans including “freedom for Palestine,” “end the massacre” and “sanctions for Israel” — as they made their way toward the end-point for a series of planned speeches.
“I think all just people around the world, not just in Britain, must stand up and call for this madness (to end),” Ismail Patel, chairman of the Friends of Al-Aqsa campaign, told AFP at the demonstration.
“Otherwise, in the next few days, (we) might see a catastrophe unfolding.” The rally comes as Israel intensifies its war to destroy Hamas’ capability, relentlessly pounding the Gaza Strip and deploying tens of thousands of soldiers nearby ahead of an expected ground offensive in the enclave.
That follows last Saturday’s attack by Hamas, which saw hundreds of its fighters cross the Israeli border to take hostages and kill more than 1,000 civilians on the streets, in their homes or at a rave party.
Ahead of the London protest, the city’s Metropolitan Police Service said it would deploy more than 1,000 officers, as the events thousands of miles away reverberate in Britain and elsewhere.
