British police arrest 22 anti-drone protesters outside US Embassy

GlobalPost
The World

British police arrested 22 people Friday during anti-drone strike outside a US Embassy in London on suspicion of the protesters belonging to a banned group, the Associated Press reported.

Scotland Yard arrested 22 demonstrators who were protesting the use of US drone strikes. A group called United Ummah organized the small rally and those arrested are on suspicion of being possibly affiliated with the banned Muslims Against Crusades organization, according to the BBC

Relations between the US and Pakistan hit a critical point when American-led NATO strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last week, sparking outrage in Islamabad.

More from GlobalPost: Pakistan demands US to vacate suspected drone base in response to alleged NATO attack 

Pakistan’s government closed the main NATO supply route to Afghanistan and demanded the US to vacate a suspected local military base suspected of using unmanned drones in response to what Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called a "grave infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty.”

The protest in London seemed to have been spurred by the recent deadly incident, according to the AP:

The demonstration was advertised online — on YouTube, Twitter and various forums — and in a publicity video as a gathering to expose "the recent spate of anti-Muslim drone strikes that have been launched by the U.S. government against innocent Muslims."


 

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