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Pro-Palestine activist spared jail for scaling Big Ben in 17-hour protest
Daniel Day, 30, triggered a major emergency services response and caused road closures around Westminster when he scaled the Elizabeth Tower last year.
Daniel Day, 30, triggered a major emergency services response and caused road closures around Westminster when he scaled the Elizabeth Tower – often referred to as Big Ben – on March 8 last year.
Southwark Crown Court heard Day cost the taxpayer at least £92,000 as he refused to come down and livestreamed his protest on Instagram while chanting “Free Palestine”.
On Monday, he was sentenced by Judge Tony Baumgartner, the Recorder of Westminster, to a 14-month prison sentence suspended for the next two years.
“This was well-planned offending and you knew precisely what you were doing,” said the judge.
“Foolishly you climbed a far way up the tower, far enough to cause very serious harm to you and possibly others if you fell.”
The judge found Day had “little insight into your offending or any real remorse”, but he noted Day had not offended since the Big Ben incident and had strong personal mitigation including failing eyesight.
Day was ordered to attend up to 20 rehabilitation days and he will be electronically monitored for four months as part of his suspended sentence.
“It’s good to see people having strong principles, but it doesn’t give a licence to break the law,” said the judge.
“You, and people like you, must understand that like everyone else you are subject to the laws of this country.
“You and others like you do not get to decide which laws you will follow and which laws you will break.
“If that were to happen, the rule of law would break down.”
Day, who is unemployed, was found guilty at trial in June of intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance with the stunt, and he pleaded guilty to trespassing on a protected site, namely the Palace of Westminster and Portcullis House.
Day, who wore a black shirt and green tartan kilt, entered the dock carrying a rucksack and holding a stick to help with his failing eyesight.
The court heard Day clambered over railings and started his climb of the tower at 7.20am, having carried out prior research on restoration of the tower, donned thermals for the climb, and brought a camera to livestream his actions.
Prosecutor Jack Guise said Day unfurled a Palestinian flag after he reached a ledge midway up the tower, and stayed there until around midnight.
During the climb, the protester took his shoes off and his feet started to bleed on to the tower’s stonework, and Metropolitan Police officers had no option but to wait for him to agree to come down.
As news of his protest spread, pro-Palestine supporters started to gather in Parliament Square and police assessed that Day was “being encouraged by having a gallery to play to”, said Mr Guise.
In video clips played during the trial, Day said: “We’re being violently attacked by police for peaceful protest.
“That’s why I’m taking action at the so-called hub of democracy today.”
He also shouted to those below: “Listen, no police are to come anywhere near me. If you come too close, I’m going higher.
“I’m here peacefully, I’m here to harm nobody.”
As part of the safety measures, and to try to take away Day’s audience, police officers shut down Bridge Street – the primary junction next to the Houses of Parliament – and Westminster Bridge, cut off pedestrian access to Parliament Square, and set out cordons on Whitehall and Victoria Embankment.
“Much of this was entirely visible to Mr Day,” said the prosecutor.
“He could see the blocks, he could see what was happening to traffic, and he knew he had caused this.”
The court heard mattresses had to be placed at the base of the tower as a safety measure.
Transport for London (TfL) lost an estimated £25,000 in bus fares as diversions were put in place and routes curtailed, while at one point Day’s supporters tried to block the movement of a fire engine.
More than 2,500 Parliament tours also had to be cancelled, at a cost of £67,000.
Mr Guise said dozens of police officers from across London had to be redeployed to the incident in Westminster, a cherry picker was on-site throughout the protest, and firefighters and paramedics spent hours on the scene during the day.
Day, of Palmerston Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, was given a conditional discharge in June 2024 for failing to remove a facial disguise, and received £200 in fines in November 2024 for blocking a road during a protest.
He hugged supporters in the well of the court after being released from the dock with a suspended prison term.
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