'Attack on Cereal Killer cafe is good publicity for them'

An academic who took part in an anti-gentrification protest that targeted a cereal cafe today said the owners are “getting good publicity” as a result of the attack.

Dr Lisa Mckenzie, a research fellow at the London School of Economics, peacefully marched with up to 200 demonstrators through east London on Saturday before a small group threw paint and daubed the word “scum” on the Cereal Killer Cafe on Brick Lane.

The window of a neighbouring estate agent was smashed and a police officer was injured by a thrown bottle.

Dr Mckenzie, 47, today told the Standard: “The cereal bar is getting good publicity out of this. I think they know what they are doing PR-wise. This was not a big incident, there were smoke bombs but no violence that I saw. I think they have kept this story going.”

The research fellow, who carried a placard with the slogan “We must devastate the avenues where the wealthy live”, denied claims that the protesters were largely drawn from middle-class academics like herself. She said: “There were 500 people there from all walks of life. When the young people started up loud bass music I went home. I am more of a reggae girl.”

There is no suggestion she was involved in any of the violence.

The cafe sells a range of breakfast cereals for between £2.50 and £5 a bowl and the protesters were complaining about locals being forced out amid the “gentrification” of the area.

Dr Mckenzie, a member of the British class survey team at LSE, said businesses such as the cafe were “ruining the mosaic of life” in east London and perpetuating a form of “social cleansing”.

However the owners, brothers Alan and Gary Keery, who have likened the violence in Brick Lane to the Troubles in their native Northern Ireland, hit back at the claims. Gary Keery said: “It is absolute nonsense to suggest we are looking for free publicity. We are just standing up for ourselves. They need to take responsibility for their actions but are turning it all on us.”

Anti-gentrification protesters are planning to target the Jack the Ripper Museum in Whitechapel on Sunday.

Police are appealing for any witnesses to the violence. A man arrested on suspicion of criminal damage has since been released without charge.