On Friday the Quaker Support for Climate Action will probably be holding a Meeting for Worship outside New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police.
The event is an apparent protest in response to the Met raiding the Quaker’s Westminster Meeting House.
Last week six young women were arrested by the police on the Quaker’s meeting house. Over 20 uniformed police took part within the raid, which was aimed toward a protest group called Youth Demand.
Youth Demand will not be affiliated with the Quakers but was using their meeting house to plan “non-violent civil resistance actions”. According to the police the actions being planned were intended to “shut down” London.
Youth Demand has already carried a variety of acts of “civil disobedience”. It describes itself as a “recent youth resistance campaign fighting for an end to genocide” and is broadly anti-Israel and anti-climate change.
The Quakers condemned the raid on their premises, with Paul Parker, Recording Clerk for Quakers in Britain, saying it was the primary time in living memory that an individual was arrested in a Quaker meeting house.
In response, the Quakers and their supporters will probably be holding their Meeting for worship from noon until 1pm on Friday.
Phil Laurie, facilitator of Quaker Support for Climate Action, said: “Quaker Meetings for Worship (MfW) are based on silence. We are holding this MfW to envelop the Police HQ in love and peace.
“In raiding the Quaker Meeting House in Westminster the Metropolitan Police brought violence to a house of peace.
“Our aim is to bring love and peace to exchange the police violence and show a special approach to coping with difficult situations.”
He added, “We are a community of worship. We won’t be threatened by force into abandoning our principles. Our Meeting Houses will remain open to those who work to construct a greater future.”
