Meet the young instigator behind 'UK Uncut

Thom Costello is just 22-year-old, but the Oxford University graduate has quickly risen to the top of the radical leftist circles in the UK as the leader of protest group UK Uncut. Over the weekend, Costello's was one of many groups involved in a protest mob who broke through police lines, staged sit-ins at businesses and shops and unleashed untold torrents of damage on London storefronts and defaced public monuments.

Hundreds of UK Uncut demonstrators stormed luxury grocer Fortnum & Masonto to stage a sit-in -- or "occupation" as they call it -- over the weekend in London. Like many other groups protesting proposed cuts in government spending, Costello's group demands the rich pay more in taxes to shore up budget deficits.

According to the UK's Daily Mail, Costello's anti-capitalist outfit relies on social media to grow their protest movement and, from a small meeting at a pub among friends, has attracted more than 24,000 followers in just five months. Costello has also organized sit-in protests at other retailers, accusing them of "dodging" taxes. He also caused chaos by arranging protests that closed 30 mobile phone stores when activists staged sit-ins and super-glued themselves to windows.

Costello uses the power of Twitter and Facebook to mobilise his army of protesters and keep one step ahead of the police.

On Saturday, his followers simultaneously received a ‘top secret’ message revealing Fortnum & Mason as his target, and within minutes they had converged on the upmarket Piccadilly store.

The growth of Costello’s campaign group has seen it go ‘viral’, attracting support across the country. He has 24,000 Twitter followers and a similar number of ‘fans’ on Facebook. ...

Mr Costello tells his followers they can ‘peacefully and non-violently’ shut down stores by sitting in them, rather than smashing them up.

But ultimately he cannot control what they do. Observers at Fortnum & Mason said some of the activists there were menacing, clad in black and threatening customers, while others daubed anarchist symbols on the walls.

Additionally, Costello and UK Uncut use a familiar face to advertise their plans for widespread demonstrations: