Yesterday evening at least 86 people were arrested for protesting at Wormwood Scrubs to demand that 22-year-old Umer Khalid is given in writing the promises HMP Wormwood Scrubs prison governor Amy Frost made to him regarding his treatment in prison.
In response to this breaking story, a spokesperson for Prisoners for Palestine said:
“Last night, there was a violent, and wildly disproportionate response by the police to the protest outside Wormwood Scrubs, as Umer entered the second day of his thirst strike.
Attendees, including pensioners, have been punched, kicked and bound face down on the floor by the police. A Bronze Commander has been filmed repeatedly punching a restrained protester.
Almost one hundred violent arrests laid bare the fragility and fear of the British state. Our prisoners have shown no bars can stop their resistance, and outside no amount of violence will stop us escalating for Palestine.
Hundreds have committed to drive Elbit out of Britain with direct action following the hunger strikes, and this repression and violence will only make us stronger.”
In response to police accusations of aggravated trespass, a witness described the accusations as “all nonsense”, saying;
“There’s nothing to say you can’t go on the grounds. It was a visitor entrance with huge open gates and no security staff. Nobody was asked to leave and nobody blocked prison staff. In fact, I saw prison staff walk around us and go inside the entrance that protesters are wrongfully accused of blocking.”
Umer, who suffers from a rare genetic disorder, Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy, and is currently being held on remand at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, is the last remaining hunger striker to participate in the Prisoners for Palestine hunger strike campaign. Umer is now on day sixteen of his hunger strike and day 3 of his thirst strike. The fact that Umer suffers from Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy severely increases the risks associated with his hunger strike action. He was initially on hunger strike for twelve days before becoming seriously unwell and unable to walk.
Umer has been charged in connection to an action that took place at the RAF Brize Norton site, where two military aircrafts were spray painted. Unfiltered flight transponder data published last summer showed that Israeli Air Force KC-707 “Re’em” aerial refuelling planes were landing in RAF Brize Norton before departing to Gaza. One Israeli plane which stopped in RAF Brize Norton was in the sky over Gaza around the time of two apparent war crimes, including in October 2024, when the IAF bombed a residential complex in the northern city of Beit Lahiya, killing 73 people.