An Eton-educated hipster has poured salt over the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in London as part of Just Stop Oil's latest stunt.
Casper Horton-Kitchlew, 32, from Hackney, is descended from someone who was imprisoned with Gandhi, and claimed the Indian independence activist 'would support Just Stop Oil if he was alive today'.
After wrapping a bright orange shawl around the statue on Parliament Square this morning, Mr Horton-Kitchlew said the government is 'pouring salt on Gandhi's legacy' by locking up peaceful non-violent protestors.
He added: 'There are 40 political prisoners in the UK right now, including 24 jailed for Gandhian, nonviolent direct action in support of Just Stop Oil.'
He was joined by another Just Stop Oil member as they held speech bubbles up to the anti-colonialist's figure reading 'be the change' and 'just stop oil'.
Just Stop Oil activists pour salt over the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square, London
The stunt was led by Casper Horton-Kitchlew, an Eton educated 32-year-old from Hackney
The eco campaigner claimed Gandhi 'would support Just Stop Oil is he was alive today'
In September, two Just Stop Oil activists were sentenced to two years in jail for pouring soup over Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers and are among those which Mr Horton-Kitchlew sought to compare to Gandhi today.
They followed five eco activists including the group's founder Roger Hallam who were jailed in July for conspiring to organise protests that blocked the M25 motorway.
But many objected to the comparison some between those protestors and the Indian activist, as well as questioning the latest means of protest.
One X user said: 'The first of Gandhi's 11 principles is Ahimsa, which removes jealousy, hatred or the desire to do harm towards others. Not sure how blocking roads to stop ambulances and other emergency vehicles getting to jobs is exactly Ahimsa.'
Another commented: 'Why didn't you walk 240 miles instead?'
Mr Horton-Kitchlew, a marketing manager, is the great great nephew of Saifuddin Kitchlew, an Indian independence activist who spent time in prison with Gandhi in 1919.
He said: 'The doublethink that allows the British state to both venerate past resistance and imprison those demanding change today is the same as their acknowledging the climate crisis, but continuing to burn oil and gas.'
While the Just Stop Oil member's relative was locked up with Ghandi, British Indian forces massacred hundreds protesting against Kitchlew's arrest on the instruction of brigadier general R. E. H. Dyer.
'Lives are at risk again,' Mr Horton-Kitchlew said, 'as innocent people in south and eastern Spain become the latest victims of oil and gas.'
The death toll after unprecedented floods across Spain has now hit at least 202, with scientists saying climate change is linked to the disaster.
Today's stunt referenced Ghandi's Salt March, a 24-day non-violent independence march while India was under British rule which saw taxes on salt hiked to historic levels to benefit UK traders.
After wrapping a bright orange shawl around the statue on Parliament Square, Mr Horton-Kitchlew said the government is 'pouring salt on Gandhi's legacy' by locking up peaceful non-violent protestors
Mr Horton-Kitchlew is the great great nephew of Saifuddin Kitchlew, an Indian independence activist who spent time in prison with Ghandi
Mr Horton-Kitchlew (pictured) is a marketing manager, it was revealed in March
He is pictured celebrating with JSO activists after a previous case was dismissed
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said: 'In 1947 the Indian Independence movement achieved an end to British Rule, something that was previously considered unthinkable. This was achieved through mass civil disobedience.
'In 2024, we must also achieve the unthinkable and bring an end to the oil and gas era, before it ends us.'
The activism group are demanding for an end to extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.
Mr Horton-Kitchlew previously scattered orange confetti over Labour politician Emily Thornberry during a speech.
He and another campaigner, Genevieve Shanahan, interrupted the then-Shadow Attorney General's address by demanding she leave Labour if the Party fails to revoke Tory oil licences granted since 2021.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14029885/Just-Stop-Oil-deface-Gandhi-statue-salt.html
In October 2022, Phoebe Plummer, 23, (left) and fellow activist Anna Holland, 22, (right) flung two tins of Heinz soup at Sunflowers at London's National Gallery
The protesters threw tins of Heinz tomato soup over Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers at the National Gallery on October 14, 2022
Plummer (left) received a two-year jail term, while Holland (right) was handed 20 months
Protesters from Just Stop Oil cover John Constable's The Hay Wain at the National Gallery in London on July 4, 2022
In 2022, two Just Stop Oil activists, Hannah Hunt and Eden Lazarus, covered the world-famous The Hay Wain painting by John Constable with their own version
The pair were each handed an 18-month conditional discharge
Dale Vince, who has previously come under fire as being one of Just Stop Oil's main fundraisers. He is pictured here attending one of their marches in June 2023
He is divorcing his wife Kate Vince. Her legal team suggested the multi-millionaire wanted the couple’s divorce rubber-stamped because he was likely to receive a knighthood or a peerage (Kate and Dale pictured together)
Labour donor Dale Vince with his wife (right) during the Carabao Cup Second Round match at the Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth
Ed Miliband has ordered the nuclear police force to hire more staff to protect key energy infrastructure projects amid a rise in targeted protests
Activists from 'Just Stop Oil' close down the Gray's Inter Terminals by boarding fuel haulage vehicles on April 1, 2022
Activists from Just Stop Oil sit on an oil tanker as they block the Kingsbury oil terminal in Warwickshire
Greenpeace activists in fast boats approach an oil production ship owned by Shell, which is suing the group for £1.7million in damages
Two supporters of the Youth Demand organisation are pictured spray painting the words 'Genocide Conference' on the front entrance to the Labour Party conference
The two activists are chased down by plain clothes police officers before being arrested
Workers attempt to clean off graffiti that read 'Genocide' from a 'Welcome' sign
Another look at workers attempting to clean the outside of the entrance to the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool
The group said it is calling for a 'two-way arms embargo on Israel and for the new UK government to halt all new oil and gas licences granted since 2021'
Labour conference descends into chaos as Rachel Reeves' big speech was disrupted by a Gaza protest
Demonstrator being removed
The protester was wrestled out of the conference hall
The disruption
An animal rights activist is detained after running onto the Epsom Derby racecourse on June 4, 2022
Six women were arrested on day two of the Epsom Derby in 2022
Police and members of security worked to remove the six women from the racecourse
Police dragged the group, then known as Animal Rebellion, off the grass
The women being arrested
The protesters broke onto the track before 4.30pm on June 4, 2022, minutes before the race was due to start