# Four Take Back Power protesters arrested after custard thrown at Crown Jewels case
Four protesters were arrested after an action at the Tower of London that targeted the display case containing the Crown Jewels, an incident that briefly shut the Jewel House and drew fresh attention to the campaign group Take Back Power. The event date is December 6, 2025.
According to the evidence, the protesters threw custard and apple crumble at the case holding the jewels. Police said the four were detained on suspicion of criminal damage. Take Back Power said it had claimed responsibility and later posted footage of the protest on social media. In the video, one young woman shouted that democracy had crumbled, while a man said Britain was broken and said the group had come to the nation's jewels to take back power.
The group describes itself as a civil resistance movement and said it wants the government to create a permanent House of the People with power to tax extreme wealth and fix Britain. The Tower's Jewel House was temporarily closed to visitors after the protest, but Historic Royal Palaces said the Crown Jewels were not damaged.
That distinction matters because the Crown Jewels are among the country's most valuable cultural artefacts and a major tourist draw. Historic Royal Palaces says the crown is priceless because of its cultural, historical and symbolic value. The collection includes thousands of diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, rubies and pearls, and is usually displayed only for formal occasions such as coronations and the State Opening of Parliament.
The action at the Tower was the second in a short series claimed by Take Back Power. Days earlier, three protesters dumped bags of manure under The Ritz's Christmas tree. The group's recent actions suggest a strategy built around highly visible symbolic locations rather than attempts at physical damage. In both cases, the aim appears to have been attention and disruption rather than destruction.
Police did not say at the time that the Tower protest had caused damage to the jewels themselves, and the charity that manages the site was explicit that the display remained intact. Even so, the episode highlighted the security challenge facing high-profile heritage institutions in London, where protest groups have increasingly used iconic landmarks to stage confrontations over wealth, democracy and public power.
The Crown Jewels sit at the centre of British state ceremony, but this incident turned that symbolism into the target of a political message. The protesters' choice of custard and dessert rather than tools or weapons reinforced the theatrical quality of the action, yet it still forced a public closure and an arrest response. For the authorities, the main issue was likely not damage, but the speed with which a small group was able to turn one of London's most famous sites into a stage for protest.
