A planned stunt to disrupt the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II by a climate activist group was reportedly foiled earlier this week by London’s Metropolitan Police.
According to a source from within the Met, a man tried to conduct a “waterborne reconnaissance mission” with a Go-Pro camera attached to his head as he paddled on a float in the no-go area of the River Thames outside the Houses of Parliament.
Police suspected that the man, believed to be a member of either Extinction Rebellion or a similar extreme green agenda group, was filming to plan out a route for his fellow-travellers to clandestinely reach Westminster Hall to perform a stunt on Monday during the funeral for the late British monarch, the Daily Mail reports.
The breach in security occurred just metres away from Westminster Hall, where the Queen’s body is currently lying in state for the public to pay their final respects. It also came just one day before King Charles III gave his first address to both Houses of Parliament in the same 900-year-old building.
Police were alerted by a member of the public, who believed that there was a body floating in the river. When they arrived on the scene, they found the man climbing the scaffolding surrounding the building. He was taken in for questioning, with police initially concerned that it might have been a terrorist-related incident, but it was later determined that he was most likely a green activist. The man claimed that he was merely swimming for a charity event.
A source with knowledge of the incident told the Mail: “Whatever his motives, his excuse of training for a charity swim was laughable.
“The footage on his Go-Pro showed potential ways to mount a water-borne raid on the Houses of Parliament and the annexed buildings including Westminster Hall and ways to get into the water.
“He was read the riot act. Police reviewed the footage he had taken. It showed a no-go area outside the Palace of Westminster which is cordoned off [by] buoys and patrolled by armed police in boats.
“He had also videoed the walls on the side of the river, 50 yards from where the Queen’s body will lie, and possible access routes to it.”
“The officers came to the conclusion he was part of a team planning to protest over the next few days while The Queen lies in state at Westminster Hall.”
The Queen’s funeral, which is expected to be the most watched television programme in the history of the world, with an estimated four billion people set to tune in, will be a key target for activists keen on spreading their message at home and internationally.
Climate alarmist activists had targeted the Palace of Westminster twice this month before the death of the Queen. Members of Extinction Rebellion broke into the Chamber of the House of Commons during the first week of September, glueing themselves to the chair of the Speaker of the House, to raise awareness of the supposed climate doom set to befall the world.
This was followed by the XR splinter group, Animal Rebellion, spraying white paint on the Houses of Parliament in protest of the dairy industry.
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