POLICE IN WESTMINSTER have arrested a man after he scaled Big Ben in London to stage a demonstration in support of Palestine.

Officers were first called to Elizabeth Tower yesterday morning, just before 8am, following reports that a person had climbed up the structure.

The man remained there for most of the day while police and emergency services attempted to convince him to come down. Emergency service crews monitored the man for hours as he sat, barefoot, on a small ledge of the Tower.

Emergency services closed the roads surrounding the tower to elevate cherry pickers. Press Association Press Association

Roads in the area were closed for a extended period as rescue teams elevated a cherry picker to the man. After nearly 18 hours after first being called to the scene, the man came down and was arrested. 

In a video posted to Instagram yesterday, the man was sitting on a ledge for most of the time he was on the tower, telling negotiators that he would come down “on his own terms”. 

In the footage, negotiators on an aerial ladder platform appear to raise concerns about an injury to his foot, saying there is “quite a lot of blood” and that his clothes were not warm enough as temperatures dropped after sunset.

The man was up on the tower for nearly 18 hours yesterday. Press Association Press Association

But the man insisted he was safe and that he would come down when he was ready. He threatened to climb higher up the tower if emergency services attempted to rescue him.

In the afternoon, shouts of “Free Palestine” and “You are a hero” could be heard from a small group of supporters behind the police cordon at Victoria Embankment.

In videos posted on social media earlier, the man appeared to climb over a fence surrounding the Houses of Parliament without any security guards approaching him.

Includes reporting by Press Association