How DID animal rights mob get through cordon?
Activists jump barriers and run past police into path of military band
VEGAN demonstrators breached security to storm The Mall and disrupt yesterday’s celebrations.
Despite a huge police presence and 200 soldiers on the route in central London, dozens of activists jumped barriers and ran into the path of a military band.
Several from the animal rights climate change group Animal Rebellion made it to the centre of The Mall where they lay in the path of the Massed Bands of the Household Division while other protesters filmed them and waved placards.
There were boos and shouts of ‘Fools!’ as police dragged them away and led them off in handcuffs shortly after 10am.
Members of the group appear to have evaded police lining the route by leaping the barriers from both sides simultaneously at points where only one officer was nearby.
One activist wore a gold plastic crown over his hat. Another carried a placard saying ‘Reclaim royal land’ as they tried to disrupt the Queen’s birthday parade.
The band continued to march uninterrupted, barely missing a step as police ran in
‘We must reclaim royal land’
between them to grab the demonstrators. Animal Rebellion said 25 of its supporters were involved in the disruption. Last year it dyed the fountains outside Buckingham Palace red to protest against Crown land being used in meat and dairy farming, and in hunting and fishing. It has called on the Royal Family to rewild all Crown land.
The group, which is linked to the climate change group Extinction Rebellion, describes itself as a ‘mass volunteer movement using non-violent civil disobedience to help the transition to a plant-based food system’.
It tweeted: ‘Animal Rebels disrupt the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations demanding royal land is reclaimed.
‘This summer we’re taking bigger action against the dairy industry than ever before, and we need you.’ One of the protesters was named by the group as Beau King Houston, a former music and drama student from Glasgow who reportedly worked as an assistant manager at the jeweller Tiffany & Co and as a drag act called Silver Summers.
Mr Houston, whose Twitter profile describes him as a media personality and role model, said: ‘The Royal Family has had decades to lead the way on a just transition to plant-based farming and has failed to do so.’
Another appeared to be former airline pilot Todd Smith, 33, who has since become a spokesman for Extinction Rebellion and has joined several of their demonstrations. Robert Gordon, a spokesman for the group, said: ‘These Jubilee celebrations are set to cost the taxpayer tens, if not hundreds, of millions of pounds.
‘All whilst we are struggling through the cost-of-living crisis and families across the country are increasingly reliant on food banks. Instead, this obscene amount of money could have been used to provide instant food security and kick-start a plant-based future where no child is left hungry or terrified by climate collapse. We must reclaim royal land for this.’
The group posted a video showing two of its supporters in handcuffs. One of the men said he had been arrested for ‘taking action on climate change’, adding: ‘That’s why we are in handcuffs today.’
He added: ‘The Royal Family claims they care a lot about the climate crisis. A first step to show that to be true would be to rewild their land and move it away from animal agriculture, which is destroying all our futures.’
The Metropolitan Police said 12 people were arrested for obstructing the highway, for which the penalty is a fine. It added: ‘Thank you to the crowd who showed their support by clapping our officers who returned to their post after dealing with the incident swiftly.’