Syria protest: anti-war protester throws herself under truck at central London demonstration

Surrounded: police and photographers next to the truck
Will Oliver/EPA
Rachel Blundy2 December 2015

An anti-war protester threw herself under a truck next to Parliament tonight as MPs prepared to vote on military action in Syria.

The woman refused to move from under the HGV for about 30 minutes - bringing traffic to a standstill - as protesters marched through Parliament Square.

Police officers surrounded the truck while photographers lay on the road to take pictures.

Protest: the protester under the truck
Andy Rain/EPA

The protester was eventually dragged out from under the vehicle by police.

She staged the protest as MPs debated whether to stage air strikes against Islamic State in Syria.

They will vote on the issue in the House of Commons later this evening.

Scotland Yard said a woman had been arrested following the incident tonight.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">&#13; <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Police *still* trying to coax out the protestor who's put herself under a lorry outside Westminster <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/syriavote?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3128511-https://twitter.com/hashtag/syriavote?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#syriavote</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://t.co/5xgBtFLMqg" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3128511-https://t.co/5xgBtFLMqg" data-vars-event-id="c23">https://t.co/5xgBtFLMqg</a>&#13; — Ben Quinn (@BenQuinn75) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/BenQuinn75/status/672113045146071041" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-3128511-https://twitter.com/BenQuinn75/status/672113045146071041" data-vars-event-id="c23">December 2, 2015</a>

Stop the War campaigners staged the second major protest in two days over the proposed military action.

Chants of "David Cameron, shame on you!" and "Don't bomb Syria!" rang out across Parliament Square.

Intervention: the protester was dragged out from under the van
Will Oliver/EPA

At the end of yesterday's mainly peaceful march, around 200 protesters sat down on Parliament Square, forcing police to physically drag some of them onto the pavement.

At least one man was seen being bundled into the back of a police van.

Scotland Yard said one man was arrested for highway obstruction and being drunk and disorderly following the protest.

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