Protesters halt 'Les Misérables' performance, storm stage in London's West End
Just Stop Oil protesters have halted a West End performance of Les Miserables after invading the stage.
During the act one finale, “One Day More”, where an actor waves the famous red flag, members of the group stormed the stage with banners that read, Just Stop Oil.
Videos on social media show the actors on stage continuing to perform the number before they step back while the area is cleared and the safety curtain comes down. The crowd boo while one member of the group addresses the auditorium. They then locked themselves to the set, prompting the Sondheim Theatre to be evacuated.
Audience members voiced their disappointment in video footage circulating on social media.
The quartet's cry of "just stop oil" was met with a chorus of boos and whistles.
One woman yelled: "Get off. Stupid people. Get off. How dare you."
She added: "You nasty people."
Activists were wearing t-shirts emblazoned with: "The show can't go on."
Separate footage appeared to show audience members leave the production.
Others screamed "get out" as boos continued to ring out.
One person said on X, formerly known as Twitter: "I’d be ripping their hands off the stage for the price of Les Mis tickets in the West End." Another added: "Imagine saving for months, making an overnight trip to London specifically to see Les Mis, a masterpiece that is a bucket list show for many people, only to have it ruined by protesters."
Among the protesters is 23-year-old community worker Hannah Taylor, who said: "The show starts with Jean Valjean stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving child. How long before we are all forced to steal loaves of bread? Am I not, like Jean Valjean, justified in breaking the law to oppose this criminal government and its murderous policies? Ask yourself, will you, like the citizens of Paris in the play, stand by and watch, or will you stand up against our governments’ criminal plans and call for an end to new oil and gas?”
A spokesman for Met Police said: "At about 21:00hrs on Wednesday, 4 October, police were called to a protest inside a theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, WC1. Local officers were quickly on scene and five people have been arrested."
This is a developing story.