Protest takes over ‘Suffragette’ premiere

Emulating the same spirit as these depicted on the large screen, members of group Sisters Uncut disrupted the glitzy bash party in Leicester Sq. on Tues. night as they protested for gender equality.

Activists chanted “Dead women can’t vote” and “We are suffragettes” to a volume that presenter Lauren Laverne was forced to raise her voice to interview the directors, with the premiere running 15 minutes behind schedule as police arrived and extra barriers were installed.

The quote was originally spoken by British women’s rights icon Emmeline Pankhurst in a speech in 1913, and was supposed to be a rallying exclamation meant to fuel the flame of an uprising while pointing out that women faced the threat of potentially becoming the equivalent of slaves if they did not fight for their inalienable rights.

According to protesters, the struggle at the heart of this year’s opening film is far from over – and that’s a view echoed by star Carey Mulligan.

Promotional T-shirts worn by Suffragette actresses Meryl Streep and her co-stars have prompted an online backlash for comparing women’s oppression with slavery.

“We are suffragettes”, they shouted, and “Domestic violence cuts kill”, referring to cuts to domestic abuse services.

The premiere of Suffragette will launch the 2015 London Film Festival. “Hopefully the film will inspire anybody who feels an injustice has been done, to be bold enough to protest”.

However, they didn’t seem to be fazed by the incidents, with Bonham Carter applauding the protestors saying: “I think it’s marvellous”.

Helena insisted the protest was a flawless tribute to Suffragette, telling Sky News, “I’m glad that our film has done something”. Meryl counted all the writers with reviews on Rotten Tomatoes – “I went deep, deep, deep, deep”, she says – and found the numbers alarming.

“And also to highlight… that we still live in a society that s sexist”.

The film, which will be released in Britain on October 12 and the United States on October 23, ends with a poignant list of the dates women earned voting rights across the world, including Finland in 1906, France in 1944, Switzerland in 1971 and Saudi Arabia in 2015.

During the BFI London Film Festival premiere on Wednesday she was very candid on the issue.