Who is Yaz Ashmawi? Protester who glitterbombed Keir Starmer during major speech
Yaz Ashmawi wore a T-shirt with the words “People Demand Democracy” on the front as he shouted: “We demand a people’s house, we are in crisis – politics needs an update. We are in crisis.”
The 28-year-old studied Theoretical Physics at the University of St Andrews, according to his social media. On X, formerly Twitter, he claims to be “fighting for a People’s House to transform the country”.
He is also an Extinction Rebellion (XR) activist, but the climate group said the stunt was not organised by them. In 2019, he filmed and produced a short video documenting one of the group’s protests in London.
Last year, he posted a series of photographs to Instagram showing Extinction Rebellion posters placed over advertisement spaces across the UK.
He wrote: “Probs the biggest mass subvertising campaign in UK history - slogans, solutions and science all presented to the public - to undermine the meaningless messages which dominate our advertising spaces constantly, and to TELL THE TRUTH.”
But a campaign group named People Demand Democracy claimed responsibility for the protest on Tuesday. The group, which calls for a system of proportional representation, claimed the protester was acting on its behalf.
In a statement, it said: “During Keir Starmer’s Labour Party Conference speech this afternoon, a single demonstrator climbed on the stage and temporarily stopped the speech. The individual covered Starmer in glitter and wore a t-shirt saying ‘People Demand Democracy.”
Proportional representation is an electoral system in which the distribution of seats corresponds almost directly with the proportion of the total votes cast for each party. Denmark, Finland and Iceland are among European countries that use this system.
In comparison, the UK uses first past the post which means the electorate votes for their preferred candidate, and the candidate with the most votes is chosen to represent the constituency or ward.
A 28-year-old from Surrey has been arrested on suspicion of assault, breach of the peace and causing public nuisance following the incident, Merseyside Police said on Tuesday.
