ACTIVISTS from Youth Demand calling for a full trade embargo on Israel were arrested after disrupting today’s London Marathon.

Willow Holland from Bristol and Cristy North from Nottingham jumped over barriers and threw red powder paint in front of the men’s elite race as it crossed Tower Bridge. 

The pair wore T-shirts reading: “Youth Demand: stop arming Israel.”

Beforehand Ms Holland said: “I am taking action with Youth Demand because I have run out of other options: thousands are being killed in Gaza, our government is making no effort to stop it and no other course of action, marches or rallies, has worked.

“I refuse to be complicit in a genocide funded by our politicians. Profit should never be prioritised over basic decency, we’re taking action for human lives and human rights.”

Ms North said: “We have tried all other avenues to get the government to stop arming Israel and yet our government is still enabling a genocide. 

“They are making the UK people complicit in breaking UK domestic law by using our taxes to arm a genocidal state, breaking humanitarian international law.”

A security motorcyclist grabbed the pair, pushing them to the floor at the side of the road moments before runners started to pass.

London’s Metropolitan Police force said in a statement: “Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the race.

“He was quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance. They remain in custody.”

The United Nations World Food Programme arm announced on Friday that its food stocks in Gaza have been completely depleted by Israel’s blockade. 

A Youth Demand spokesperson said: “This is a race against time: Gaza is running out of food. 

“Millions of starving Palestinians are being bombed with UK complicity. By continuing to arm Israel, [British Prime Minister Sir Keir] Starmer has crossed the line from genocidal denial to genocidal complicity. 

“We can’t allow politicians to run away from accountability for their war crimes.”