Westminster Meeting House door. Photo: Courtesy of Westminster Meeting.
Quakers’ shock over Meeting house raid
‘No one has been arrested in a Quaker Meeting house in living memory’
Quakers have been holding in the Light six activists arrested after a Quaker Meeting house was raided.
Friends reported that more than twenty uniformed police officers forced their way into Westminster Meeting House, some with tasers, and arrested six women attending a welcome talk of the protest group Youth Demand last week.
Mal Woolford, an elder of the Meeting, told Sky News the police’s actions were ‘ridiculously heavy handed’. ‘The only resistance I could put up was to make tea and drink it in front of them without offering them any.’
Youth Demand describes itself as a ‘nonviolent civil resistance campaign demanding the UK stops arming Israel and cancels all new oil and gas granted since 2021’. Christian Aid was one of several groups to express concern about the raid and said it sends ‘a chilling message’.
Three of those arrested were taken to Bromley police station, according to Youth Demand, where, outside, the protest group later held a vigil. Beth Allen, from Bromley Meeting, told the Friend that Quakers across the UK held all those affected in the Light during Sunday’s Meeting for Worship (MfW). One hundred and twenty, in person and online, joined a ‘deep’ MfW at Westminster Meeting. Meanwhile Quaker MPs and other people of faith, and none, sent supportive messages, said Caroline Nursey, clerk of Westminster Meeting. ‘Premises are handling repairs to the door, a Friend from outside London is supporting the people arrested,’ she said, while BYM staff are handling ‘the legal implications including reporting to the Charity Commission’. People who hire Meeting house rooms ‘have to agree that their event will respect our principles of truth, equality, simplicity, peace and sustainability’, she added.
As the Friend went to press, a Youth Demand event was due to be held on 31 March in Brighton, which some local Quakers intended to support.
BYM said: ‘We strongly condemn the violation of our place of worship which is a direct result of stricter protest laws removing virtually all routes to challenge the status quo.’
‘No one has been arrested in a Quaker Meeting house in living memory,’ said Paul Parker, BYM’s recording clerk. ‘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.’
Several Quakers took to social media to express shock that a place of worship had been raided, though some Friends pointed out that Quakers don’t have holy sites and the police actions would be equally questionnable wherever they happened. But, referencing the history of persecution against Quakers, Tim Gee, general secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation, said: ‘The parallels are obvious.’
According to The Guardian, the Met police said it had arrested six people at the meeting on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. It said it arrested five other people for the same offence on Friday – four in London and one in Exeter. ‘Youth Demand have stated an intention to “shut down” London over the month of April using tactics including “swarming” and road blocks,’ police said. ‘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.’
Police said five of those arrested at Westminster had been released on bail, with the sixth facing no further action.
Comments
Youth Demand are not the warm, fuzzy , hummus and breadstick eating innocents that some Friends present them to be.
They were planning to bring to bring London to halt in the name of a boycott of all trade with Israel, impacting on the lives tens of thousands of Londoners if they were successful.
More importantly Youth Demand are an antisemitic organisation. On its website it celebrates the arrest of three of its members outside Broadcasting House in defiance of a restriction imposed under the Public Order Act. It was in place to prevent the harassment of British Jews on their way to the nearby West End Synagogue on Sabbath, 18 January 2025, at the same time that the Palestine Solidarity Campaign held one of its marches.
Youth Demand refused to modify their actions despite knowing their impact on a congregation of British Jews, unlike most march participants who abided by the restrictions, instead Youth Demand rejoiced in their actions and now hold them up as an echievement they are proud of.
God knows how many times I was arrested in the Eighties, I have no objection to non-violent direct action, and I actively support those witnessing for a just resolution for all living in Israel/Palestine.
But harassing a group on the basis of their ethnoreligious identity is racism.
And enabling Youth Demand’s actions is also enabling racism.
Here’s some links to the background
https://youthdemand.org/2025/01/18/youth-demand-supporters-arrested-outside-the-bbc-at-the-psc-demonstration/
https://news.met.police.uk/news/met-uses-powers-to-prevent-protest-gathering-close-to-london-synagogue-492451
https://antisemitism.org/met-police-must-not-bow-to-pressure-from-organisers-of-march-this-saturday/
By Ol Rappaport on 3rd April 2025 - 9:03
Dear Friend
Youth Demand has been around for several years, they have never had any activist arested for an act of violence and all their actions are non-violent. The act you refer to was aimed at the Metropolitan Police who they beliieved was protecting the BBC from protest, because of their role in protecting the State of Isreal from the consequences of their actions in Gaza. Which I whole heartedly agree with.
They did so by sitting down with cardboard signs, and deliberatly not acting in a aggressive manner. If one reads the Metropolitan Police Statement and you disagree with it, then the protest they undertook is completely logical, targeted and non-violent. I really cannot see how it can be termed Antisemitic.
Phil Laurie (East Kent AM)
By Phil Laurie on 4th April 2025 - 17:20
Dear Friend
Youth Demand has been around for several years, they have never had any activist arrested for an act of violence and all their actions are non-violent. The act you refer to was aimed at the Metropolitan Police who they believed was protecting the BBC from protest, because of their role in protecting the State of Israel from the consequences of their actions in Gaza. Which I wholeheartedly agree with.
They did so by sitting down with cardboard signs, and deliberately not acting in an aggressive manner. If one reads the Metropolitan Police Statement and you disagree with it, then the protest they undertook is completely logical, targeted and non-violent. I really cannot see how it can be termed Antisemitic.
Phil Laurie (East Kent AM)
By Phil Laurie on 4th April 2025 - 17:25
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