Three charged after protest outside Sir Keir Starmer's home

A demonstration was staged outside the Labour leader’s Kentish Town home yesterday (April 9), by a group known as Youth Demand.

They describe themselves as a “new youth resistance campaign fighting for an end to genocide”.

The demonstrators hung a banner outside Sir Keir’s house that read: “Starmer stop the killing”, surrounded by red hand prints.

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Rows of children's shoes were laid outside Sir Keir Starmer's front door to signify deaths of children in Gaza (Image: PA)

Protesters then laid rows of children’s shoes in front of the Labour leader’s door, a tactic that has been used at a number of pro-Palestine protests to signify children killed in Gaza.

In a video posted to X, Youth Demand called for a two-way arms embargo on Israel, saying that weapons manufactured in the UK were being used to cause genocide.

On Monday (April 8), Youth Demand also sprayed Labour’s headquarters with red paint, and later claimed that 11 people had been arrested in relation to that incident.

Rishi Sunak, whose own home in North Yorkshire was the target of climate protesters in 2023, said such incidents would not be tolerated.

In a post on social media platform X the Prime Minister said: “I don’t care what your politics are, no MP should be harassed at their own home.

“We cannot and will not tolerate this.”

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Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said: “Politicians and their families should be able to go about their daily lives without feeling threatened or intimidated.

“It’s completely unacceptable for protest to take place in the vicinity of a politician’s home.

“There are plenty of appropriate places to protest in London, anyone who chooses to target a private home can expect to be dealt with by officers.”

The Metropolitan Police said today (April 10) that three people have been charged under Section 42 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, a power designed to “stop the harassment of a person at their home address”.

The trio have also been charged with breaching court bail.

Leonorah Ward, 21, of Beechwood Mount in Leeds, Zosia Lewis, 23, of Rokeby Terrace in Newcastle upon Tyne and Daniel Formentin, 24, of Woodside Avenue in Leeds, will appear in court later today.

Some reporting by PA.