Meryl Streep Protesters Disrupt Big Premiere

Letting off coloured smoke flares, the protesters were later praised by the stars of the film for their strong message.

Emmeline Pankhurst, who was born in Moss Side, said the phrase during a speech given in 1913 to support women’s rights.

Women with easy access to Ruthin were invited to apply as extras to play a variety of roles and the then mayor Rosie Moseley Hughes gave it a go.

Streep donned the shirt as a means of promoting her upcoming film Suffragette, a drama centered around the movement to declare women’s right to vote in England during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

It was a classic case of life imitating art at the red carpet premiere of Suffragette at the BFI London Film Festival in Leicester Square on October 7, after a group of more than a hundred women’s rights protesters stormed the venue in a demonstration against domestic violence.

During BFI’s live stream of the event (see the video below) the protesters’ chants including “We are suffragettes” could be heard as the actors walked the red carpet and the festival’s presenter conducted interviews over the PA system.

Others held banners with the words “50/50 Parliament”, demanding equality in the British Government. “I think it’s awesome”. “That’s exactly what it’s there for”, said the actress who, ironically, is the great granddaughter of former Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith, a key target for the suffragettes at the time.

“If you feel strongly enough about something and there’s an injustice there you can speak out and try to get something changed”, she told Sky News. Yes, a LOAD of stuff is a lot better than it used to be, and we should be incredibly grateful for everything the women – the ones showed in the film, and all the ones who aren’t – of the past have achieved for us.

At the film’s press conference, Meryl – who portrays Emmeline Pankhurst – hit out at the male-dominated film-making industry, saying the inequality made her “infuriated”.

The film is set to be released in theaters on October. 23.

The Guardian said this reply disappointed campaigners against Hollywood sexism, especially after Streep’s “Suffragette” co-stars Carey Mulligan and Romola Garai said without hesitation that they were feminists.

Is Meryl Streep’s “I’d rather be a rebel than a slave” t-shirt being taken out of context?