Man from Acton Charged with Dumping Manure at the Ritz
Tjalle Rumley was protesting on behalf of Take Back Power
Ritz staff tackle protestors in the lobby of the hotel. Picture: Take Back Power
An Acton-based activist is among eight people charged following two high-profile protest actions in central London last year, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed. Tjalle Rumley, 26 of Hereford Road, has been charged with criminal damage in connection with an incident at The Ritz Hotel in December 2025, where activists from the group Take Back Power dumped bags of manure inside the luxury venue.
Rumley is one of four people charged over the Ritz protest, alongside Ellen Redwood-Brown, 23, Tom Barber, 66, and Toby Ellwood, 21. Police say the group entered the Piccadilly hotel on 3 December and poured manure across the floor as part of a coordinated stunt intended to draw attention to economic inequality.
Three days later, a separate group of activists connected with the same organisation targeted the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London, throwing crumble and custard at the protective display case. Four people — Fatima Ali, 19, Miriam Cranch, 22, Mack Preston, 22, and Matthew Cooper, 50 — have been charged in relation to that incident.
Take Back Power, which describes itself as a non-violent civil resistance movement, has claimed responsibility for both actions. The group emerged in late 2025 on social media channels associated with Just Stop Oil, which has referred to it as a “new project”. The group has called for the creation of a permanent citizens’ assembly — a so-called “House of the People” — with powers to tax extreme wealth and reshape the UK’s political and economic systems.
The Metropolitan Police said all eight defendants will appear in court over the next two weeks.
Earlier this year, 15 supporters of Take Back Power were arrested over alleged plans for what police described as “mass shoplifting” from major supermarkets, with the intention of redistributing goods to food banks. In a separate incident, 66-year-old David Kilroy from Plymouth has been charged with theft following an alleged organised shoplifting event at a Sainsbury’s in Lewisham in March.
Rumley and the other defendants are expected to enter pleas when they appear before magistrates later this month.
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