Writer Hannah Eiseman-Renyard says she was arrested in Starbucks ‘for zombie fancy dress’

Published: 20th May, 2011
by JOSH LOEB

A WRITER says she was handcuffed and held in a police cell for four hours “for being dressed as a zombie”.

Hannah Eiseman-Renyard, who lives in Archway, had planned to attend a“zombie flashmob” protest. She was sitting in a West End coffee shop in fancy dress when she was arrested for “potential breach of the peace” and taken to Belgravia Police Station.

Four others, also in similar fancy dress, were also arrested. All were later released ­without charge. 

Ms Eiseman-Renyard, 25, has branded the arrests “ridiculous” and said she was “speaking to lawyers” and ­“making as big a fuss  as I can”.

“Our right to free assembly was revoked and we were illegally arrested and detained simply because the police didn’t like the look of us,” said Ms Eiseman-Renyard. “When it comes to battles to fight, I never imagined mine would be the right to dress up like an idiot, but this is the one that’s happened and I’m not going to let it slide. Being arrested and detained for nearly four hours is not an expectable, acceptable or legal consequence of wearing some fake blood.”

The arrests took place on the day of the Royal Wedding, when police throughout Westminster were on high alert.

The Soho Square protest Ms Eiseman-Renyard had been ­planning to attend was organised by gay ­campaign group Queer Resistance to raise awareness of the impact of government cuts on HIV clinics, hate crime prevention and other services.

She says she was sitting inside Starbucks in Oxford Street when officers approached her.

Ms Eiseman-Renyard said: “At around 11.45am three or four cops came into the ­Starbucks and asked us to come outside.

“They lined us up ­outside the window and informed us we were being stopped and searched. We asked under what grounds, they said Section 60. This meant nothing to us so we asked what it was. They said they had reason to suspect we were going to disturb the peace.”

Ms Eiseman-Renyard, who writes short stories and edits books professionally, said officers had carried out a search but had found “nothing more incriminating than cameras, bottles of water, facepaint and books”.

She added: “All the arresting officers were cheery enough. But the fact remained that we were being arrested for wearing fancy dress.”

A Met spokesman said there was no official record of the arrests but advised Ms Eiseman-Renyard to contact them if she felt she had grounds for a complaint. 

Dozens of activists arrested while taking part in anti-cuts protests on March 26 appeared in Westminster Magistrates’ Court this week. 

All the cases have been adjourned and there will be “test case” trials later this year.

Lawyers including Matt Foot, a solicitor at leading civil liberties firm Birnberg Peirce, have warned the mass arrests could threaten the right to peaceful protest through direct action.