Man arrested after 16 hours to climb Big Ben’s Elizabeth Tower in London

A man was arrested several hours after climbing Big Ben’s Elizabeth Tower in an obvious protest in London.

The man first peeled Britain’s tower at Parliament House in Westminster Palace at 7:24 Local time on Saturday, March 8, according to Westminster Police. He was then arrested after agreeing to get down into the tower more than 16 hours later on Sunday 9 March, BBC reported.

In what seemed to be a protest peeled the man, who has not yet been identified by the police, Elizabeth Tower before stopping at a ledge several meters above the ground and refuses to leave, according to reports from Associated Press and BBC.

Barefoot and dressed in completely black, the man wore two Palestinian flags, one that he wrapped around part of the tower and one he waved while standing on the ledge.

He stayed in the London building until after midnight local time and negotiated with emergency crews that reached him via Crane. The man later went off the building and entered a cherry picker, Per AP and BBC.

In pictures of the incident, the man was reportedly being able to tell negotiators that he would come back down the tower on his “own terms”, the BBC reported. He also said to them, “If you come towards me you put me in danger and I will climb higher,” said the outlet.

After the negotiations, traffic in the surrounding area was a complete stillness, according to AP and BBC.

When rescue services, including officers with London Fire Brigade (LFB) and London Ambulance Service (LAS), arrived at the scene to handle the incident, the authorities closed Bridge Street and Westminster Bridge in both directions, police announced.

Tours in Parliament’s house were also put on a break because of the incident, according to AP and BBC.

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When the protestant finally came down on March 9, he was arrested when he reached the land, police say in an update.

“The man has now been arrested,” wrote the Westminster police in a X post. “This has been a prolonged incident because of the specific about where the man was and the need to ensure the security of our officers, the individual and the public.”

The police also said that officials worked with other agencies, including LFB, and “deployed special officials to end this incident as quickly as possible while minimizing the risk of life.”

“We have been closely related to parliamentary goods all the time,” the police ended the update, “and all roads have been reopened.”