A left-wing activist group staged a nationwide shoplifting spree to “liberate” food from supermarket shelves in protest against “billionaires”.
Take Back Power members carried out coordinated thefts from major supermarket chains across four British cities on Saturday morning, taking items from shelves before delivering them to food banks.
The group, widely seen as the successor organisation to Just Stop Oil, targeted branches of Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Tesco in Exeter, Truro, Manchester and south-east London.
The action began at around 8.30am, with participants entering stores in Devon, Cornwall, Didsbury and Lewisham at the same time.
Footage released by the group showed activists removing items including tinned tomatoes, pasta sauce, dried pasta, stock cubes, rice, baked beans, tea bags and nappies from shelves.
The goods were placed into cardboard boxes labelled: “These things are going to those who need them.”
Activists then left the stores without paying before depositing the items at food bank collection points or distributing them to passers-by.
No arrests had been made by Saturday afternoon, according to a spokesman for the group.
Take Back Power members carried out thefts from major supermarket chains across four British cities
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TAKE BACK POWER
Security staff confronted activists at the Exeter and London stores, but no detentions were made.
The organisation described the raids as “non-violent action to resist the super-rich” and claimed the goods had been “liberated”.
Ruth Cook, a 74-year-old company director, took part in the Morrisons raid on Prince Charles Road in Exeter.
“We have a terrible situation in this country,” she said.
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The organisation described the raids as ‘non-violent action to resist the super-rich’
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INSTAGRAM / TAKE BACK POWER
“Families are struggling and children are going hungry, while the profits some companies make are obscene,” Ms Cook said.
“The answer is to tax the super-rich. I’m taking this food and delivering it to a food bank collection point because we need to do something about this.”
Eve Middleton, 25, also took part in the Tesco theft on Parrs Wood Lane in Didsbury, claiming “billionaires hoard wealth”.
The group warned further action would follow.
Take Back Power says its aim is to ‘tax the rich to fix Britain’
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INSTAGRAM / TAKE BACK POWER
“Until the Government makes a meaningful statement in response to our demand, we will undertake non-violent action to resist the super-rich, who are driving us towards social collapse,” it said.
The group also criticised executive pay, writing: “The CEO of Sainsbury’s pays himself 239 times that of an ordinary full time employee in his company.”
Take Back Power says its aim is to “tax the rich to fix Britain”.
Co-founder Arthur Clifton, 25, previously outlined plans for mass mobilisation at a launch event attended by more than 140 prospective activists.
Mr Clifton, who was educated at Latymer Upper School – where annual fees reach £30,000 – said groups of up to 100 activists intend to enter food retailers including Marks and Spencer and “strip the shelves”.
He has previous convictions linked to Just Stop Oil protests.