Four Greenpeace activists arrested after climbing Foreign Office building

Four Greenpeace activists have been arrested after scaling a building outside the Foreign Office in protest over delays to signing an international treaty protecting oceans.

The protesters unfurled a banner as they suspended themselves from columns on the King Charles Street Archway in Westminster on Thursday, before coming down voluntarily.

Three men and one woman were safely detained and arrested under section 1 of the Public Order Act, and on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage, the Metropolitan Police said.

Officers were first called to reports of a protest at the scene at around 5.45am.

The group called for faster action from Foreign Secretary David Lammy in signing the Global Ocean Treaty, with the banner showing a turtle with the words “Lammy Don’t Dally!”.

The treaty, which aims to protect large areas of marine life by putting stricter regulations on deep sea mining and fishing, was first agreed in March 2023 and has been ratified by 21 countries so far, ahead of the United Nations Ocean Conference in June.

Mr Lammy was in Brussels for a meeting of Nato foreign ministers on Thursday.

Erica Finnie, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “Our climbers have been arrested, but we have left our banner as a reminder that the ocean is important for all life on Earth.

“The Foreign Secretary and his staff love to talk about the importance of nature and ocean protection, yet this historic global agreement appears to be floundering.

“Unless the Government lifts the anchor fast, it risks the embarrassment of not being able to shape key decisions at the first ‘conference of the parties’ of the treaty.”

Emergency services including the police and fire brigade attended the incident, with a small cordon formed around the archway.

Whitehall remained open to traffic.