Red paint sprayed on UK Government building in Gaza protest

Activists have sprayed red paint on a UK Government building in Edinburgh and scaled the facade in a pro-Palestinian protest.

This Is Rigged campaigners removed the union flag from the roof of Queen Elizabeth House on Sibbald Walk on Wednesday morning and replaced it with a Palestinian one.

A fire extinguisher full of red paint was used to spray the front of the building and water balloons containing red paint were thrown at the UK Government crest.

This Is Rigged said it is targeting the UK Government because of its position on the war in Gaza after Israel began its military operation last year, accusing ministers of being “complicit” in the conflict.

Activists unfurled a Palestinian flag on the roof of the UK Government building (This Is Rigged/PA). PA Media

The UK Government has resisted calls to back an immediate ceasefire and previously abstained on UN resolutions demanding one.

This week, Downing Street said it wants to see a “sustained humanitarian pause” agreed as quickly as possible to allow the safe release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and a significant increase in aid to Gaza.

This Is Rigged campaigner Catriona Roberts, 21, a history student from Perthshire, said: “As long as the UK Government refuses to call for a ceasefire, we will continue to call ‘not in Scotland’s name’.

“As Palestine is bombed, burned and starved, this Government is complicit. I cannot emphasise enough the importance of screaming out into the world that we will not abide genocide.”

Fred Spoliar, 31, also of This is Rigged, said: “Every hour without the UK Government taking action to put pressure on Israel is blood on their hands. It’s been five months – that’s a lot of hours, a lot of blood. This is unforgivable.”

The conflict was sparked by Hamas’s deadly raid into Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people and saw militants seize about 250 hostages.

Israel’s retaliatory strikes have left more than 30,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

This Is Rigged and the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign are calling on the public to “boycott genocide” and avoid companies and events they claim support or directly fund the Israeli state.

A UK Government spokesperson said: “We are aware of the protests and the police are in attendance.

“All of the staff in Queen Elizabeth House are safe and no-one has entered the building.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 10.30am on Wednesday, we were called to a report of a protest at a building in Sibbald Walk in Edinburgh. Officers are in attendance.”

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said: “We agree that we want to see a sustained humanitarian pause agreed as quickly as possible to allow the safe release of hostages and a significant increase in aid to Gaza.

“Our position is entirely aligned with the US who, like us, are calling for a pause in the fighting.

“We have been clear, as has the US, that the right conditions, however, must be in place for a permanent, lasting ceasefire, and that includes the release of all hostages, Hamas no longer in charge in Gaza, and a bolstered Palestinian Authority.”