As millions around the country gather to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles, not everyone is joining the sea of red, white and blue.
William Belshah, a local artist, staged his own protest in Piccadilly Gardens and said he would rather be giving out free food to children who need it the most.
The Coronation, which is being broadcasted in major cities across the UK, has come under fire from critics who are against how the British Royal Family still live in their wealth amassed from colonisation.
William said: “At the minute, over 1in 5 children in the UK are living in poverty and we’re spending over £250 million on the Coronation on some of the richest people in the world who stole that wealth and who are living people out in the cold, including children who should be eating.
“I think we should be feeding kids.”
The Joseph Rowntree Trust, a charity dedicated to stamping out poverty, reported that 14.4 million people in the UK were living in poverty.
In 2021 to 2022 around 8.1 million of these were working age adults, 4.2 million were children and 2.1 million were pensioners.
William said he had bought 330 McPlant burgers which he has been giving out to children, the homeless and busy working parents.
The native Mancunian said: “They’ve asked us to pledge allegiance and I think we should pledge allegiance to each, to ourselves and to equality and not an institution that doesn’t represent any of those things.”
