“Tax the rich” activists attack Tower of London display with crumble and custard
London student Zahra Ali, 19, added: “Our country is collapsing before our eyes. Homeless people are dying on the streets where King Charles passed on his way to his coronation, and in this country there are more empty houses than homeless people.”
“It’s time for the ultra-rich to pay their fair share. We demand a permanent ‘people’s house’. It’s time to take back power, tax the rich and fix Britain.”
Shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston said: “I’m so tired of these self-centered ‘protesters’ pulling up so many time-consuming stunts to get attention rather than doing the hard work of developing a compelling argument and engaging in the democratic process.
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“That sounds like a lot of hard work. It’s a lot easier to throw apple crumbs at the Crown Jewels to get on TV. They’re not entertainers, they’re cream yobos.”
Police Minister Sarah Jones said: “The disgraceful incident at the Tower of London this morning. I am grateful to the police for their swift response and the thorough investigation which is now ongoing. There is a clear difference between the democratic right to protest and unacceptable behaviour.”
In her budget last month, Rachel Reeves announced a tax increase of £26 billion ($53 billion), including a “mansion tax” on homes worth more than £2 million, pushing Britain’s tax burden to its highest level in history.
Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity that maintains the Tower of London, said the Crown Jewels were not damaged in the pudding and crumbling incident and the Tower has reopened to the public.
Cranch had previously protested the banning of Palestine Action and was arrested in connection with a demonstration in Parliament Square in support of the group in July.
Ali, a history student, was also arrested in July following a demonstration in support of Palestine Action. He said at the time: “The hunger in Gaza is disgusting. And our government is doing nothing about it.”
He said imagining himself in prison was “a big thing” but that “if people in their 80s can do it, so can I,” adding that he describes himself not as an activist but as “a normal person who decides what our government is doing is wrong.”
Ali was previously arrested along with five other young women when police broke up a Youth Demand meeting at London’s Quaker Meeting House in March. He said he was kept in a “freezing” cell for 17 hours.
Scotland Yard said the raid, described as “intelligence-led”, targeted the protest group. Members who attended the meeting were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public disturbance.
Manure was thrown at the Ritz
On Wednesday afternoon, members of Take Back Power emptied bags of compost next to the 25-foot Christmas tree in the lobby of the Ritz Hotel in central London in a demonstration against wealth inequality.
Footage posted on social media showed staff quickly removing banners reading “It’s inequality. Tax the rich” before sitting outside the hotel.
Take Back Power was founded by Just Stop Oil student activists Arthur Louis Nolan Clifton, 25, and David Luca Milligan Currey, 23, who participated in numerous other protests.
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Clifton, originally from Chiswick, West London, was found guilty of causing criminal damage after spraying orange paint on a building at University College London. The former English literature student at the University of Exeter sprayed the building with orange spray to protest the Government’s oil and gas projects.
He was arrested last year over plans to disrupt Youth Demand’s Remembrance weekend events.
Currey, who is originally from Gateshead and studied politics and sociology at the University of Manchester, was arrested after taking part in a series of Just Stop Oil protests.
Telegraph, London
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