LONDON: British police have arrested the UK head of Greenpeace, alongside five other activists, after they poured 300 litres of blood-red dye into a pond at the US embassy on Thursday in protest against the US sale of arms to Israel.

Will McCallum, the environmental campaign group`s UK head, and the others, disguised as delivery riders on bicycles with trailers, Greenpeace said, tipped the dye into the high-security embassy`s semi-circular pond.

McCallum and the others were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to causecriminal damage, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The Met Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Areeba Hamid, co-executive director at Greenpeace, said that the dye was biodegradable and designed to wash away naturally. `We took this action because US weapons continue to fuel an indiscriminate war that`s seen bombs dropped on schools and hospitals, entire neighbourhoods blasted to rubble, and tens of thousands of Palestinian lives obliterated,` she said.-Reuters