Flour bomb

Flour bomb is a fragile container (e.g. a paper bag) filled with flour for the purpose to be thrown at a person or object to cause an inconvenient messy stain, called flour bombing.

This article is about the device used for protests. For an explosion of flour particulates suspended in air, see Dust explosion.

Flour bombs and flour bombing are a classic protest method, along with the throwing of eggs and overripe tomatoes.

Notable incidents

An example from May 2004 was the use of purple-dyed flour in condoms thrown at the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, in the chamber of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom by Fathers 4 Justice. The event highlighted the poor security methods employed in and around the Houses of Parliament at the time.[1]

Several candidates in the 2017 French Presidential Election, including future president Emmanuel Macron, were hit by flour bombs.[2]

Flour bombs saw notable use during the controversial 1981 Springbok Tour at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. In an attempt to disrupt the match, flour bombs, along with flares, leaflets and a parachute-support banner reading "Biko" were dropped into Eden Park from a light plane flying overhead. A New Zealand All Blacks player was felled by one of the flour bombs.[3][4]

The effect of flour bombs is made worse by the inclusion of eggs, or containers of other liquid, making the removal of the resultant mixture difficult.

See also

References
  1. BBC U.K. On This Day, "2004: Angry dads hit Blair with purple flour"
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkZir1L7fSY French Elections: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
  3. NZHistory.net.nz
  4. McOnie, James (9 July 2006). "Flour-bomber goes back to Eden Park". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
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