Patrick Sawer, Steve Bird and Genevieve Holl-Allen
London: “Tax the rich” activists vandalised the Crown Jewels with crumble and custard in a “disgraceful” protest at the Tower of London on Saturday.
Police arrested four people after officers rushed to the Tower following reports of an incident shortly before 10am, UK time.
They found that food had been thrown onto a case containing the State Crown, which is used at coronations and state openings of parliament.
A group calling itself Take Back Power staged the attack, with members of the group filmed unfurling a sign reading: “Democracy has crumbled – tax the rich”.
Take Back Power describes itself as a “non-violent civil resistance group” that advocates for a “permanent citizens’ assembly”, but critics condemned the activists as “yobbos with custard” with “too much time on their hands”.
Two of those who said they had taken part in the Tower protest defended their actions in statements made before the arrests.
Miriam Cranch, a 21-year-old retail worker from Leeds, said: “Britain is broken because the super-rich are pocketing billions while working people struggle to get by.
‘Billionaires should not pay a lower tax rate on the wealth they generate doing nothing than those of us working jobs.’
Miriam Cranch, protester and 21-year-old retail worker from Leeds
“This wealth inequality is leading us towards civil unrest, and it doesn’t have to be this way. Billionaires should not pay a lower tax rate on the wealth they generate doing nothing than those of us working jobs.
Zahra Ali, a 19-year-old student from London, added: “Our country is crumbling before our eyes. We have homeless people dying on the very streets that King Charles passed on his way to the Coronation, while there are more empty homes than unhoused people in this country.
“It’s time the ultrarich pay their fair share. We demand a permanent ‘house of the people’. It’s time to take back power, tax the rich and fix Britain.”
Shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston said: “I am so tired of these self-absorbed ‘protesters’ with too much time on their hands doing stunts to gain attention rather than doing the hard graft of developing a compelling argument and getting involved in the democratic process.
“That’s too much like hard work. Much easier to throw apple crumble at the Crown Jewels to get on telly. They’re not demonstrators, they’re yobbos with custard.”
Policing Minister Sarah Jones said: “Disgraceful incident this morning at the Tower of London. I am grateful to the police for their swift response and for the full investigation, which is now under way. There is a clear difference between the democratic right to protest and unacceptable behaviour.”
In her budget last month, Rachel Reeves announced £26 billion ($53 billion) in tax increases, including a “mansion tax” on homes worth more than £2 million, pushing Britain’s tax burden to its highest level on record.
Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity that looks after the Tower of London, said the Crown Jewels were not damaged during the custard and crumble incident, and that the Tower had reopened to the public.
Cranch has previously protested against the banning of Palestine Action and was arrested in July in connection with a demonstration in Parliament Square in support of the group.
Ali, a history student, was also arrested in July following a demonstration in support of Palestine Action. She said at the time: “The starvation in Gaza, it’s disgusting. And our government isn’t doing anything about that.”
She said imagining herself in prison was “a big thing,” but “if people who are in their 80s can do it, then I can do it”, adding that she did not describe herself as an activist but “a normal person … who decided that what our government is doing is wrong”.
Ali was previously arrested alongside five other young women when police broke up a Youth Demand meeting at the Quaker Meeting House in London in March. She said she was held in a “freezing” cell for 17 hours.
Scotland Yard said the raid, described as “intelligence-led”, was targeting the protest group. The members in attendance were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.
Manure dumped at the Ritz
On Wednesday afternoon, members of Take Back Power emptied bags of manure next to the 25-foot Christmas tree in the lobby of the Ritz Hotel, in central London, in a demonstration against wealth inequality.
They were seen in footage posted on social media being swiftly removed by staff before sitting outside the hotel with signs reading “Inequality is s—. Tax the rich”.
Take Back Power was set up by Just Stop Oil student activists Arthur Louis Nolan Clifton, 25, and David Luca Milligan Currey, 23, who have been involved in numerous other protests.
Clifton, originally from Chiswick, West London, was found guilty of causing criminal damage after spraying orange paint onto a building at University College London. The former English literature student at Exeter University had sprayed the building orange to protest against the Government’s oil and gas projects.
He was arrested last year in connection with plans to disrupt Remembrance weekend events by Youth Demand.
Currey, who is originally from Gateshead and studied politics and sociology at the University of Manchester, has been arrested after taking part in a number of Just Stop Oil protests.
The Telegraph, London
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
