Two Latvian men arrested for trespass offences at RAF airbase – Europe live

And, on that note, we will be closing the blog for today.

• Two Latvian men were arrested in the early hours of Thursday after they were discovered inside the perimeter of RAF Molesworth, a Cambridgeshire base used by the US military and Nato for intelligence operations (16:52, 17:26, 17:42).

• RAF Molesworth is a non-flying base that hosts critical US and Nato intelligence operations (17:02, 17:22).

In other news,

• Thousands of people gathered at the Place de la Bastille in Paris this afternoon on another day of students protests across France (16:29).

• Police briefly clashed with protesters near the square, with batons and teargas seen on video footage from the demonstration.

• Several other demonstrations took place across the country, with students calling for another day of protests on Tuesday next week (15:41, 16:11).

• The overall number of school blockades was gradually decreasing, officials numbers suggested (13:55, 15:14).

Elsewhere,

• A Russian missile strike on a bus in the eastern city of Kramatorsk has killed at least 30 people, officials have said, in one of the worst attacks by Moscow on Ukrainian civilians this year (11:49).

• Hours after the attack, US secretary of state Marco Rubio warned about the risk of an escalation in Russia’s war with Ukraine, saying it could “could quickly turn what is a war between two countries into a much broader and far more dangerous regional conflict” (16:15).

If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com.

I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

The police reference to section 4 of the National Security Act 2023 can give us a bit more idea as to what happened.

The section covers anyone who:

(i) accesses, enters, inspects, passes over or under, approaches or is in the vicinity of a prohibited place, or
(ii) causes an unmanned vehicle or device to access, enter, inspect, pass over or under, approach or be in the vicinity of a prohibited place, and

In the context of the act, “inspecting” includes “taking, or procuring the taking of, photographs, videos or other recordings of the prohibited place.”

The act goes on to say that:

“A person who commits an offence under this section is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years or a fine (or both).”

The police statement is also likely to prompt some questions about the response to the incident.

The abandoned vehicle found at 10pm, and the two men only arrested at 2am. What happened in the meantime? And where were they found?

The statement points out that “a small breach of the perimeter fence was subsequently identified.”

The police said the vehicle was “recovered by police,” with further precautionary checks for a potential explosives – but “nothing of concern was found.”

On the two suspects – aged 32 and 36 – it said:

“They were initially arrested on suspicion of trespass on a prohibited site and criminal damage and taken to a Cambridgeshire police station.

The pair have since been further arrested on suspicion of an offence under section 4 of the National Security Act 2023 – namely entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK.

Both men currently remain in police custody at this time.”

RAF Molesworth is located some 30 miles northwest of Cambridge and 70 miles from London.

Unlike RAF Fairford, it’s a non-flying base, but it hosts a number of other functions, including the previously mentioned intelligence centre.

There’s no point in speculating about the nature of this incident until we know more.

But it will undoubtedly raise further concerns about and scrutiny of the security of UK airbases after last week’s Fairford incident.

RAF Molesworth hosts some US troops and the Joint Intelligence Operations Center Europe Analytic Center (JAC), as well as Nato’s 24/7 intelligence fusion centre.

Meanwhile, we are getting a line from the UK that two Latvian nationals resident in the UK have been arrested on suspicion of trespass offences at an RAF airbase in Cambridgeshire.

The two men where found last night as security patrols near RAF Molesworth found an abandoned vehicle and a small breach in the perimeter fence. The two men were located and arrested at 2am.

In a statement, the police said the matter is being investigated by officers from Counter Terrorism Policing.

The incident comes just over a week after a widely reported security issue near RAF Fairford, and will raise concerns about security of UK airbases.

Head of Counter Terrorism Policing London team, Helen Flanagan, said:

“We’re very aware of the recent heightened interest and concern around military sites, but at this stage there is nothing to suggest this incident is connected to the events at RAF Fairford last week.

Our investigation into this incident is at its very early stages. A big part of this is looking at any potential motivation as to why the men were present at the site, but I must stress we are keeping an open mind at this stage and enquiries are very much ongoing.

As ever, I would ask the public to remain vigilant and if you see anything of concern, then to contact police.”

in Brussels

Elsewhere, UK’s prime minister Andy Burnham, who pledged to rebuild the country’s post-Brexit relationship with its European neighbours, has a little bit of friendly competition to be the EU’s best friend (13:35).

At a summit in Montreal later this month (29-30 October), the EU and Canada will pledge to launch “an alliance for the future”, with a host of agreements on digital trade and the economy, and plans to intensify ties on raw materials, the Arctic and people-to-people contacts.

The nine-page draft summit text seen by the Guardian does not mention the phrase “associate membership”, reflecting scepticism about the term European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen surprised EU diplomats with last month. Canada’s government also appeared to distance themselves from the term, which has no legal basis in EU treaties.

Semantics aside, the two sides will pledge to deepen ties on a long list of areas to build “a deeper and more integrated relationship”. The text, likely to be closely read by the UK and others, states:

“Our partnership may become a model for other countries seeking friendship in a challenging world.”

According to the draft, the EU and Canada will:

• sign an agreement on the joint purchase of 50 waterbombers made by Canada’s DeHavilland to be ready by 2030 to fight wildfires in Canada and the EU.

• negotiate Canada’s entry into flagship EU programmes, such as Horizon (research) and Erasmus+ (student exchanges and education) and the Galileo satellite programme.

• assess options to export Canadian liquefied natural gas and critical minerals to the EU

• deepen cooperation on AI safety and carry out feasibility studies on new subsea infrastructure to connect Europe, Canada and Asia

• increase labour mobility to reduce barriers to young people and skilled professionals working on both jurisdictions

Not in the text… any mention of the 10 EU member states yet to ratify the EU-Canada trade agreement that was signed ten years ago.

Meanwhile, let’s bring you comments from the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who was in Lisbon this afternoon and warned that the continuing stalemate between Russia and Ukraine was “very dangerous.”

Speaking alongside the Portuguese foreign minister Paulo Rangel, Rubio warned that any escalation “could quickly turn what is a war between two countries into a much broader and far more dangerous regional conflict.”

Rubio said there have been attempts to reach a negotiated settlement, and “we will keep trying”.

Here are a few more images showing the scale of the demonstration currently gathered at Place de la Bastille in Paris…

Left-wing presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon – whose party, France Unbowed (LFI), has long been supportive of the protests – is set to address the crowds shortly.