The red carpet for Suffragette was overrun with protesters who wanted to raise awareness for victims of domestic abuse.
The European red carpet event celebrating the premiere of Suffragette in Leicester Square, London, was temporarily held up as protesters from the activist group Sisters Uncut climbed over the barriers and proceeded to engage in a staged scuffle, before lying down on the red carpet itself and blocking the path of celebrities on their way to the cinema.
While security guards initially attempted to prevent them from crossing, once they protesters had settled on the ground, the guards could do nothing as the women chanted their slogans, “cuts kill” and “dead women can’t vote.”
After several confusing minutes the police arrived (in hindsight, one can wonder why an action like this wasn’t anticipated), and proceeded to fence in the women using barricade blocks, in order to keep the red carpet procession moving. The soundtrack of the movie continued playing through all of this, lending an unintentionally ominous tone to the proceedings.
The protest was remarkable to witness, and it was a curious feeling of watching life imitate art (imitate life). During the suffragette movement of the early 20th century, police would attack and beat female protesters, and there is a very evocative scene in Suffragette which re-creates one of these horrific events.
If the red carpet staff had used any sort of violence against the protesters, we can’t imagine how the world would have reacted. And, even though they didn’t, seeing the women fenced in while press and publicists put on their best “the show must go on” faces was a pretty powerful image.
The protesters held up the red carpet procession for about a quarter of an hour, before taking a victory lap and abandoning their vigil, message delivered and received.
The BBC caught up with Sisters Uncut member Janelle Brown, and she explained, “We came to the Suffragette premiere today because the struggle is definitely not over. […] We’re a direct action group and we know that was the tactic the suffragettes used too.”
While some fans waiting to see the stars cheered on the protesters, others were visibly upset that they were holding up the cast and crew waiting to walk down the red carpet.
One crestfallen family explained to us after the event that they had been standing right where the barrier had been breached. They had been very shaken up, and their young autistic son had almost had a panic attack. They were only there to get an autograph from Meryl Streep (unfortunately, Streep did not stop for them), and had not been expecting a protest on this scale.
It was also unfortunate that, while the protesters were chanting, the presenter happened to be interviewing Helen and Laura Pankhurst, the great-granddaughter and great-great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst — the front figure of the suffragette movement, played in the movie by Meryl Streep. Whatever stories they had to tell were lost to the noise.
However, when we later spoke to Emmeline Pankhurst’s family, they made sure to point out how important it is that women stand up and fight for their rights. “That’s what Suffragette is all about,” said Helen Pankhurst.
Composer Alexandre Desplat expressed the same sentiment, telling Hypable that the fight for equality is still not over for women, and that the protest was a great example of that fact.
“To me, it’s a war that [women] are trying to fight and to win. And they are still fighting. You were there,” he said, pointing to where the protesters had taken their stand.
Indeed, the movie makes a point of raising awareness about women’s rights issues today, not just the suffragette movement of the 20th century. It seems fitting that real women’s rights issues were forced onto the agenda of what was supposed to be a straight-laced publicity event.