Instead of rioting in the streets of England, reality star Sam Pepper, 22, wants people to stay indoors and drink some tea.
Tuesday night Pepper, a former contestant on the UK series “Big Brother” in 2010, started an anti-riot Facebook campaign to get fellow Englishmen to put down the baseball bats and molotov cocktails and pick up a warm beverage in the comfort of their own home.
“If you’re not a fan of tea feel free to post a picture of you drinking any ‘mugged’ drink,” according to the Facebook event description. “We don’t need to riot and this is how we show it!”
So far the event as more than 214,000 people “attending” and plenty more supporters on Twitter using the hashtag #operationcupoftea. In the last 24 hours the hashtag has collected more than 35,000 mentions, according to statistics from Topsy, a Twitter search engine.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Pepper for an interview and we are awaiting a response.
“Fabulous idea: “Make tea, not trouble. Mugs, not thugs. Brews, not bruise. Keep calm and drink tea,” Tweeted Chris Medlam of Barnsley, England.
“#OperationCupOfTea and #riotcleanup show the TRUE England,” tweeted Sophie Baker (@sohpiicus) of Luton, England. “It really warms my heart to see communities pull together. bravo, I say, bravo.”
“Make tea not war!” tweeted Lee Casey, of Chelmsford, England.
The riots in England started Thursday in Tottenham following the death of 29-year-old Mark Duggan, a father of four. As of Wednesday morning, more than 1,000 people have been arrested in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Bristol and Leicester, according to The Guardian.