Four Arrested After Custard and Apple Crumble Smeared on Crown Jewels Display at Tower of London

British police arrested four protesters after custard and apple crumble were smeared on the glass of the Crown Jewels display at the Tower of London on Saturday morning.

Members of a new nonviolent group calling itself Take Back Power said activists "smothered the dessert over the display case" at about 9:50 a.m. The group, which appears to be an offshoot of climate campaigners Just Stop Oil, held a banner reading "Democracy Has Crumbled -- Tax The Rich" before police moved in. Take Back Power said officers arrested the two people who applied the dessert and two others who were present at the scene.

The target of the demonstration was the display that houses the Imperial State Crown, worn by King Charles III at formal ceremonies, the BBC noted. Take Back Power identified the two activists who smeared the dessert as Miriam Cranch, 21, a retail worker from Leeds, and Zahra Ali, 19, a student from London.

Unlike recent high-profile climate protests that disrupted cultural sites, Take Back Power used the stunt to call for higher taxes on Britain’s ultra-wealthy. Cranch said the country is "broken because the super-rich are pocketing billions, whilst working people struggle to get by," warning that rising inequality risks sparking civil unrest. She urged a system where ordinary people have more say on taxing wealth, proposing a permanent "House of the People."

Ali referenced the monarchy's privilege, saying homeless people have died "on the very streets that King Charles passed on his way to the coronation."

The group has launched a fundraising campaign and said it raised about $75,000 since Friday to support its work. In its appeal, Take Back Power argued the tax system is rigged: "Since 2008, the wealth of the super-rich has increased four times faster than average household wealth, while more than a third of us now earn less than needed to make ends meet. The scales need balancing. We need to tax the rich."

The protest attracted heightened attention following the theft of Napoleonic jewels from the Louvre in October and comes after three years of headline-making climate demonstrations. The art news site Urgent Matter recently reported that many prominent climate groups have coordinated an end to direct-action campaigns, citing limited impact, rising legal costs and changes in the activist landscape.