Married couple arrested for daubing ‘bloody handprints’ on Downing Street gates in Israel-Hamas war protest

The Metropolitan Police have arrested a married couple for using fake blood to smear “bloody handprints” on the gates outside Downing Street as part of a protest against the Israel-Hamas war.

Virginia Moffat, 58, and Chris Cole, 60, were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage after red paint was also thrown at the gates, the Met Police said.

Moffat and Cole, from Dorset, were later named by Christian campaign group FigTree. According to a statement by FigTree, the couple said the Government had “blood on its hands” for refusing to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, and the Christian protesters called it “a massacre of biblical proportions.”

A statement released by Moffat and Cole detailed their reasoning for the demonstration at Downing Street: “Britain’s and Israel’s justification for this slaughter is that Israel is acting in ‘self-defence’; that the deaths of innocents are to be regretted, but Israel must be allowed to act in its own defence.