'Women's death brigade' to march on controversial Jack the Ripper museum

Protester: Dr Lisa Mckenzie wants the museum to celebrate East End women

Peter Marshall/Demotix

2 October 2015

An academic today warned the owners of a Jack the Ripper museum that a “women’s death brigade” was on its way to protest at it this weekend.

Dr Lisa Mckenzie, a research fellow at the London School of Economics, branded the museum sexist in its portrayal of women killed by the Ripper.

She said the owners could expect to be surrounded by up to 200 protesters while she will be in the ranks of the so-called Women’s Death Brigade, whose slogan is “f*** capitalism f*** patriarchy”. The demonstration at the museum in Cable Street on Sunday is being masterminded by Class War, which targeted the Cereal Killer Cafe in Shoreditch last weekend in an anti-gentrification protest.

Dr Mckenzie, 47, who attended the early, peaceful stages of the Cereal Killer demonstration and has protested at the museum in the past, said: “When the Ripper museum applied for planning permission it said it was going to be a celebration of the lives of East End women. What we have got is a gory, grubby museum about Jack the Ripper.

“It is pretty horrific and glorifies the events. There is also the issue of gentrification here. This museum is not at all helping the local community.

“I will be with the Women’s Death Brigade and that’s the banner we will be holding. We do not want to force the museum to close down — just for it to become what we thought it was going to be and that is a celebration of the lives of women of the East End.”

The Jack the Ripper museum said it would be “business as usual” on Sunday and that staff and managers had been briefed by police. A planned counter-demonstration has been cancelled.

Museum spokesman Joshua Walker said: “I don’t see much logic behind Class War targeting a museum whose mission is to tell the story of East End women and to support locals. I think they believe that we are glorifying Jack the Ripper and thus the murder of women. Nothing could be further from the truth. The museum is a memorial and tribute to those women — women who for 127 years have had no voice.”

The museum opened in August has been the target of demonstrations calling for it to drop its Ripper theme.

Scotland Yard said: “We will work with the organisers as appropriate and ensure an appropriate policing plan is in place.”

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