Man holding Palestinian flag climbs Big Ben’s Elizabeth Tower

A man who climbed up Big Ben’s Elizabeth Tower carrying a Palestinian flag has yet to come down, despite emergency services negotiating with him for many hours.

The barefoot man made his way onto a ledge several metres up the tower at the Palace of Westminster on Saturday morning.

The Met Police said officers were called to the tower at 07:24 GMT. The incident has led to the closure of Westminster Bridge and the cancellation of Parliament tours.

The intruder filmed his climb and said that he was protesting against “police repression and state violence”.

At least nine emergency service vehicles lined Bridge Street in central London as crowds looked on from beyond a police cordon.

Three emergency personnel were lifted several metres up on a fire brigade aerial ladder platform at around 10:00 GMT, with one person using a megaphone to speak to the man on the ledge.

The incident began when the man got into the grounds of Parliament, walked up some steps, quickly climbed onto a railing, and up the side of Elizabeth Tower.

At one point he took his shoes off to enable him to climb higher to a ledge. He injured his feet, and patches of blood could be seen on the stonework of the tower.

The man was spotted within minutes by police on the ground, who asked if he was able to get down safely. He responded: “I’m safe.”

Photographs throughout the day showed him sitting on the ledge with the flag and a keffiyeh scarf wrapped around the decorative stonework on the tower.

Bridge Street, which is at the north end of Westminster Bridge, was closed to allow the emergency services to deal with the incident, along with Westminster Bridge.

It is understood one exit of Westminster Tube station was also closed, but there is no disruption to Tube services, and passengers could use other exits.

Tours of the Parliamentary Estate were also cancelled as emergency services responded to the incident.

The parliamentary spokesperson said: “Parliament takes security extremely seriously, however, we do not comment on the specifics of our security measures or mitigations.

“As a result of this incident, tours of the Parliamentary Estate today have unfortunately had to be cancelled.”

A spokesman for London Fire Brigade (LFB) said crews from Lambeth, Chelsea, Soho and Islington fire stations were responding to the incident alongside the police.

The London Ambulance sent an ambulance crew, an incident response officer, and members of its hazardous area response team (HART) to the scene.