A man scaled the Elizabeth Tower and hung a Palestine flag yesterday, resulting in much public disruption. Finally, around midnight, he allowed himself to be brought down and was arrested and brought to a hospital for treatment, and then a police station.
Given such facts, what charges could be supported, and what penalties could those charges entail?
Previous protestors that scaled the roof of the UK's Parliament House (of which Big Ben is a part) were charged with trespassing a protected site (Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, s. 128).
Punishable by up to 10 years in prison and/or an unlimited fine.
The protestor in the question has been charged with:
See BBC, "Man charged after protestor climbs Big Ben's Elizabeth Tower" (10 March 2025).
This sometimes occurs in Canada, with buildings like the CN Tower or the Parliament building.
For example, on July 16, 2001, Greenpeace activists Chris Holden and Steven Guilbeault climbed the tower and unfurled a banner.
The charge was mischief (Criminal Code, s. 430). Mischief is not a "reverse onus" offence, so the accused will be released without conditions unless the Crown shows that detention or conditions should be imposed. They were released pending trial on conditions (to not go within 500 metres of the CN tower and to not climb the exterior of any other structure in Canada). They pleaded guilty. The sentence was a conditional discharge and $3,000 in restitution to the building owner as compensation for costs it incurred.
Mischief in relation to property can be charged either as an indictable offence (which risks a prison term of up to two years), or as a summary conviction offence (which risks a prison term of up to two years less a day and a fine of not more than $5,000).
Restitution is always available for the court to order upon conviction or discharge (s. 738).
In 2009, 20 protestors that scaled the Parliament building were also charged with mischief (Janice Tibbetts, "RCMP mum on security breach at Parliament", National Post (8 December 2009)).
Of course different or more facts could support different charges. This answer does not take on any independent fact finding or speculate beyond the facts stipulated in the text of the question.
