The class warriors who staged an anti-gentrification protest at a London cafe included middle-class academics, it was reported last night.

Left-wing anarchists attacked the ‘hipster’ cereal cafe in Shoreditch, east London, on Saturday.

They claimed to be a grassroots movement fighting against the gentrification of the traditionally working class area.

Protest: Dr Lisa Mckenzie, a research fellow at the London School of Economics, is pictured at another Class War demonstration in east London last month

But several of the protesters were last night said to be high-profile academics from prominent universities such as the London School of Economics.

Dr Lisa Mckenzie, a research fellow at LSE, was photographed at the event with hard-Left anarchist group Class War. On her Facebook page, she openly talks about being on Saturday’s protest, The Times reported.

Fire: The mob claimed to be a grassroots movement fighting against the gentrification of Shoreditch in London

One of Class War’s best-known activists, Dr Mckenzie, 47, ran against Tory minister Iain Duncan Smith in the General Election.

DR LISA MCKENZIE: THE CLASS WARRIOR WHO HOLIDAYS IN VEGAS, IBIZA, JAMAICA AND BARBADOS Photographed with a megaphone in hand at Saturday night's Shoreditch protest was Dr Lisa Mckenzie, a research fellow at the London School of Economics. According to the university's website, she studies the 'precarious nature of particular groups in our society and the vulnerability they experience', researching specifically the living conditions of those in London's east end. Before that she focused on the poor working class, and adds that her research interests focus on those 'living through adversity as the consequences of austerity.' Despite this being the case, her Facebook page shows she's enjoyed trips to the likes of Las Vegas, Ibiza, Jamaica and Barbados. The mother-of-one has also visited the likes of the Italian fashion capital Milan, Paris Barcelona, Nice, New York, Rome, Naples, Athens New York, California and Chicago, and has posted photos with a pricey Apple computer and expensive SLR-type camera. In May, the 47-year-old was charged with criminal damage and behaving in a threatening manner during another Class War protest when she allegedly attached a sticker to the London home of Taylor McWilliams, a friend of Prince Harry. She is set to appear for trial at Stratford Magistrates Court next month. Advertisement

The group played a ‘key role’ in organising Saturday’s so-called ‘**** Parade’, which saw paint and smoke bombs thrown at the Cereal Killer cafe – which sells bowls of cereal for £3.20.

Career academic Dr Mckenzie has spent 15 years in academia, including time spent on a doctorate about ‘finding value on a council estate’.

Another defender of the protest, in which campaigners carrying flaming torches attacked the cereal bar, was poet Simon Elmer – who posted a photo of himself after the protest in a pig’s mask.

He wrote on Facebook: ‘Opening a shop that sells children’s cereals for £4 a bowl in a borough in which 49 per cent of the kids are living in poverty is an insult to the thousands of Tower Hamlets residents who have to eat on less than £4 a day.’

Alan Keery, 33, who runs the business with his brother Gary, watched as violent protesters threw furniture and smoke bombs at the cafe’s front door.

He said: ‘It was a bunch of anarchists who are trying to represent the poor people of East London and it’s ridiculous. They were all boozing in the streets, there was a lot of obscenity.

'There were about 200 people with torches outside the shop. They were throwing paint bombs at the window and they tried to bash down the door.

'There was a family with kids in the cafe – it was terrifying.’

Gathering: The Class War group played a ‘key role’ in organising Saturday’s so-called ‘**** Parade’ in London

Repair job: Cereal Killer cafe manager Matt Moncrieff cleans the windows which were daubed with graffiti

Faced violent protest: Al Keery, joint owner of the Cereal Killer cafe, is pictured inside the shop in east London

Police are appealing for witnesses after the protest turned violent and an officer was taken to hospital after being hit in the face by a flying glass bottle.

Superintendent Pete Turner said: ‘Whilst we respect and will facilitate the right to peaceful protest we will never condone violence.