Class War Justifies Serial Killer Museum Protest

Anti-gentrification protesters claim that the Jack the Ripper museum in East London celebrates a serial killer and is a symbol of gentrification.

Lisa McKenzie from anarchist group Class War - which will be protesting outside the museum today - told Sky News: "We thought we were getting a museum that celebrated the women of the East End and actually we were really looking forward to it.

"The issue was when the boards came down: it was red and black, it was a bit tacky and it was celebrating a serial killer of the East End.

"The Jack the Ripper museum is an example of what happens when people come in who have got money and some influence and power and puts something in a community without consultation or knowing about that community.

"When that community turns round and says we don't like this, we don't want that, it's like it doesn't matter because we've got the money to do this."

Anti-gentrification movement F*** Parade - which is organised by Class War - targeted Brick Lane's Cereal Killer Cafe last Saturday.

Paint was thrown at the store - which sells a variety of cereals from £3.50 - forcing workers and customers to shelter in the basement.

Responding to allegations that she and other members of the group are from well-off backgrounds, the activist said: "I am definitely working class and I'm not from east London, I'm from Nottingham which was decimated in the 1980s.

"I was from a mining town and Mrs Thatcher closed down all our mining pits and our communities were absolutely decimated; I know what it's like to fight for a community.

"I've got a PhD, I read books, I'm articulate. Does that mean I'm not working class? Because I read books, does that mean I'm not working class?"

The owner of the museum denies accusations that the content is historically inaccurate and insists that by telling their stories the museum actually "pays respect" to the women who were killed by Jack the Ripper.

Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe said: "I don't think going around attacking small businesses, terrorising women and children... throwing paint over them is the way to deal with that.

"The way to deal with the gentrification of London and the unaffordability of housing is to have a robust dialogue with the Government and get them to change their policies that have made those problems in the first place."

Just yards from the Jack the Ripper museum there are both developments for luxury flats and social housing.

Around 20,000 people remain on the social housing waiting list of Tower Hamlets, the borough that is home to the museum. The rise in the cost of living in the area has led to accusations of social cleansing.

Resident Martin Wright, who lives in a nearby estate, says he's witnessed it first hand.

"People I know in social housing have been forced to leave," he said. "You're taken away from your family, your friends, your whole social network. Your entire structure is destroyed. As for the community, it's repeated a thousand times over."

Alex Rhys-Taylor lives in the Holland Estate - a five minute walk from Liverpool Street station.

He says proposals by the housing estate owners to demolish the site and replace it with new-builds would lead to families being relocated.

He told Sky News: "A lot of people are really anxious because their kids are in schools in the area and they have jobs in the area and they're really not certain what the future's going to be, so anxiety, confusion and dismay is the feeling."

Leaseholders there are unlikely to be offered enough money to remain in the area and those on social housing have no guarantee that they will remain in Tower Hamlets. Those who rent privately will likely face a significant increase in the cost of rent.

The average price of a property in Tower Hamlets is over £700,000, while more than a third of children in the area live in poverty.