Campaigners hold 'eating protest' over Women Who Eat on Tubes Facebook group

 
Snack: protester Chris Coltrane with a friend
Rachel Blundy14 April 2014

A group of campaigners held an 'eating protest' on the Tube today to highlight their anger over a Facebook group which invites people to post pictures of women tucking into snacks on the London Underground.

Hundreds of protesters gathered at High Street Kensington station for the lunchtime sit-in on the Circle Line.

The event, organised by Goldsmiths students Lucy Brisbane Mckay and Alexis Calvas, was in response to Women Who Eat on Tubes, a controversial Facebook group which has been criticised for what many have deemed 'stranger shaming'.

The online group, which now has a closed membership so its content cannot be seen, was temporarily shut down by Facebook last week.

Tasty: protesters are filmed eating by the media (Twitter/@riddler_pops)

The social media site later said it was deleted in error and republished the group's page.

Following today's protest, Ms Mckay, 21, said: "It went so well. There was a large turn out. We had three carriages packed out. You could not sit down. So many media people came too."

She said some members of the Facebook group, which has seen its membership grow to almost 25,000 users, also attended the protest.

She said: "There were some people who disagreed with us. We had some interesting conversations with them. They said they think the whole thing is funny."

Protesters do not currently have plans for more sit-ins but hope to continue their campaign against the social media craze, she added.

Lunchtime trip: a protester gets stuck in (Twitter/@bridget89ec)

She said: "I think we have started a lot of good conversations. I think [the group] is still a problem but I am hoping this will make people think twice. That is what we are trying to say."

The Facebook group's founder Tony Burke continued to defend the project during an interview on BBC Radio 4 last week, insisting it was "high art".

He said: "First and foremost I set the page up for me, as an observational study, just like any reportage photography.

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"I think we have a right to take photos of people without asking their permission. I think I was trying to capture a moment and I was trying to create something artistic."

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