Flour bomb is a fragile container (e.g. a paper bag) filled with

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

for the purpose to be thrown at a person or object to cause an inconvenient and messy stain, called flour bombing. Flour bombs and flour bombing are a classic protest method, along with the throwing of eggs and overripe tomatoes. 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.

Notable incidents

Flour bombs saw notable use during the controversial

1981 Springbok Tour The 1981 South African rugby tour (known in New Zealand as the Springbok Tour, and in Republic of South Africa, South Africa as the Rebel Tour) polarised opinions and inspired widespread protests across New Zealand. The controversy also extende ...

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

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

from a light plane flying overhead. A

New Zealand All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

player was felled by one of the flour bombs. On 19 May 2004, during Prime Minister's Questions, two members of the Fathers 4 Justice organisation threw condoms filled with purple-dyed flour at Tony Blair, in the chamber of the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 me ...

. The event highlighted the poor security methods employed in and around the Houses of Parliament at the time. Several candidates in the

2017 French Presidential Election The 2017 French presidential election was held on 23 April and 7 May 2017. As no candidate won a majority in the first round, a runoff was held between the top two candidates, Emmanuel Macron of En Marche! (EM) and Marine Le Pen of the Nationa ...

, including future president

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...

, were hit by flour bombs.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkZir1L7fSY French Elections: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

References

Bombs Grain production

Notable incidents

See also

References