Led by Donkeys

The protest group's Windsor Castle stunt made top use of its weapon of choice: embarrassment

- Andrew Anthony

When members of the protest group Led By Donkeys projected images of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein on to the walls of Windsor Castle last week, it swiftly led to four arrests on suspicion of malicious communication.

That's a crime that covers any indecent, grossly offensive, false or threatening communication for the purpose of causing distress or anxiety to the recipient.

Embarrassment, however, is not included in the Malicious Communications Act of 1988, and embarrassment is the protest group's chief weapon of choice.

That's what the nine-minute film documenting the relationship between Trump and the late financier, convicted sex trafficker and paedophile was intended to do: embarrass the US president and his hosts during his state visit.

The four founding members of LDB are Ben Stewart (51), Ollie Knowles (50), Will Rose (46) and James Sadri (46). Although the identities of the arrested members have not been revealed, their age and locality profiles do not correspond to those of the founders, with the exception of Knowles.

For the past six years, they have devoted their creative energies to "interventions" that highlight political hypocrisy. They focus on the gap between words and deeds, reminding us of the staunch positions that have been quietly or expediently abandoned.

The group formed in early 2019, when the UK had checked out of the European Union but didn’t seem able to leave. The four men, who had met through Greenpeace, decided to express their frustration with the political mess unleashed by Brexit with a guerrilla billboard campaign featuring historical tweets by Brexit’s protagonists.