Animal rights protesters who poured red dye into the fountains outside Buckingham Palace as part of a 2021 fake blood stunt have been found guilty of committing criminal damage.
Five members of the Animal Rising group, which calls for a “transition to a secure and sustainable plant-based food system,” and a “mass rewilding program” appeared at Southwark Crown Court in London on Wednesday where they were found guilty and will face sentencing later this year.
Christopher Bennett, Louis McKechnie, Riley Ings, Claire Smith and Rachel Steele poured eco-friendly red dye into the fountains outside Buckingham Palace which surround the famous Queen Victoria memorial on August 26, 2021, to protest reports that lawyers acting for Queen Elizabeth II had lobbied ministers in Scotland to alter a draft law to make her private land exempt from an eco-initiative aiming to cut carbon emissions.
The group smeared the red dye onto the stone surrounds of the fountain, holding signs that read: “Animal agriculture—A royal bloodbath.”
Members of Animal Rising are photographed during their protest outside Buckingham Palace in London in August 2021. Five members of the group have been found guilty of criminal damage.
Animal Rising
In a press release, Animal Rising said their protest moves “helped shine the spotlight onto the royal’s support of hunting, racing, the fur trade, and law exemptions whilst the rest of us fight for a livable future.”
McKechnie, 23, expressed frustration at the three-year wait for the group to face a verdict.
“The result in court today wasn’t ideal, but it was expected,” he said. “The justice system in this country isn’t actually organized around actual justice, it’s organized around continuation of the status quo.
“It’s insane to me that three years have passed since the protest and in that time we’ve had 40 degree heatwaves but no discernible action from our government. We have no choice but to keep going until we get a plant-based food system, anything else would be a betrayal of our generations and the generations to come.”
Newsweek approached Buckingham Palace via email for comment.
This is not the first time that the royals have faced protest demonstrations.
Apart from regular protests at royal celebrations and events staged by Republic, Britain’s largest anti-monarchy group, they have also been targeted by a number of eco-groups.
In June 2024, two activists from Animal Rising defaced a new portrait of King Charles III that was on display in a London gallery, to protest the royal’s association with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).
Members of the group pasted a cutout of the face of the character of Wallace, from the hit British animated comedy franchise Wallace and Gromit, over the king’s head in the portrait by Jonathan Yeo.
A speech bubble with the text “No cheese Gromit, look at all this cruelty on RSPCA farms,” accompanied the cutout.
The gallery filed a police report and the painting sustained no damage.
Members of the Animal Rising group are pictured during a protest at the portrait of King Charles III by Jonathan Yeo in London in June 2024.
Animal Rising
In the same month, Prince William narrowly avoided a protest act from the group Just Stop Oil.
The royal was a guest at the society wedding of close friend, the Duke of Westminster, which took place at Chichester Cathedral in England. As the wedding party exited the cathedral, two protesters set off fire extinguishers filled with orange powder.
The protesters were escorted out of the waiting crowd by police, with one commenting in a Just Stop Oil press release: “Weddings are a time of coming together in celebration to make a commitment to the future. However, for countless millions around the world there is no future unless we come together to stop oil and gas. That’s why we are demanding that the next UK government work with other countries to phase out fossil fuels by 2030.”
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about Charles and Camilla, William and Princess Kate, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We’d love to hear from you.
