Food crisis activists give Sir Walter Scott a spray of soup
A married couple have sprayed soup over the Scott Monument in Edinburgh as part of a This Is Rigged protest, writes Jolene Campbell.
The event took place on Tuesday morning around 11.30am as two activists with the group climbed the steps of the monument with fire extinguishers filled with soup and emptied them over the marble figure of author Walter Scott.
The act of vandalism follows similar stunts in Edinburgh to highlight the cost-of-living crisis, including a ‘picnic protest’ in Sainsburys at Waverley station which saw four people charged.
In recent weeks the group has changed the messaging of billboards, occupied the dining room of Holyrood Palace and stolen potato scones, bread and other goods from stores throughout the city to hand out to the public.
Carol Johnson, 58, and Adrian Johnson, 57, a married couple from Perthshire, sprayed the Edinburgh landmark to demand action on skyrocketing rates of food insecurity in Scotland.
The couple, a food grower and former deputy head teacher, said of the protest: “We are appalled that in 2024 one in four suffer food insecurity in Scotland. The accelerating collapse of the climate will only make this worse
“So, we are engaging in civil resistance to call upon our government to take these threats seriously and fulfil their primary responsibility to keep everyone safe.”
The group is demanding supermarkets slash the price of baby formula to March 2021 prices and that the Scottish Government fund a community food hub for every 500 households in Scotland.