Protesters have stormed an auction for paintings believed to be the work of Adolf Hitler.
Self-styled 'comedy terrorist' Aaron Barschak and a man dressed as Hitler shouted that they were bidding £6m becuase the painting was a Mussolini.
Mr Barschak was dressed in a purple suit and a giant black beard and he was accompanied by a man who called himself Frank Sanazi, but later revealed his real name to be Pete Cunningham.
They said they were protesting because they felt the sale in Lostwithiel, Cornwall was offensive.
Speaking outside the auction room after they had been thrown out by security guards, Barschak's wife Tamara, 34, described her husband as "an intellectual Jew".
She said: "This is a comical protest. The sale here is offensive, it should never have been held. It's not a surprise that when they did decide to hold it they chose a quiet village in Cornwall."
She added: "If it was in London there would have been protests. Adolf Hitler was a mass murderer and to make money from that is wrong."
The auction attracted worldwide interest and most paintings fetched thousands more than their estimates.
An Aussie icon we never worship is the street theatre performer whom mocks politics. Glad to see that others have picked up on the glad tidings of the best way to get a message across. Australians are all nowadays quite accustomed to many forms of public theatre: from the brolga dancers on stilts; to the men in suits with fishbowl helmets; to the comic mimics of any local politician. Really no politician is worth any negative media attention if the street theatre didn't get there first. In fact, it is the general Australian regard that if a polite enough joke can not be made of a matter then it is not yet newsworthy.
I reckon that the street theatre tradition is one of the best that the British brought with them to Australia; and good on the British for proving their worth with such an eminently approvable objection.
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