Survivors of abuse by the late Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed have protested outside the Knightsbridge department store, accusing its current owners of silence and delay two years after a BBC documentary first exposed allegations of rape and sexual abuse against the billionaire.
The demonstration, organised by the group Justice for Fayed and Harrods Survivors, brought survivors together behind a campaign banner outside the store, handing out leaflets and demanding faster progress. Supporters included members of a parliamentary group set up for survivors, whose co-chairs accused Harrods of wanting to wash its hands of the scandal.
More than 400 allegations of sexual misconduct have now been made against Al Fayed and others linked to him, covering a period from 1977 to 2014 and including sexual assault, rape, sexual exploitation and trafficking. The Metropolitan Police say at least 159 victims have contacted them directly, including 21 who came forward before Al Fayed's death in 2023 at the age of 94.
Police launched an investigation, known as Operation Cornpoppy, in November 2024, focused on people who may have facilitated or enabled the alleged crimes. Seven people have been questioned under caution. Al Fayed, who owned Harrods from 1985 to 2010 and also owned Fulham Football Club and the Ritz in Paris, denied allegations during his lifetime and was never charged.
Harrods, owned since 2010 by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, apologised in 2024, saying it was appalled by the allegations and acknowledging that the business had failed employees who were victims. It set up a compensation scheme under which former employees could receive up to £385,000 plus treatment costs; more than 260 people engaged with the programme and around 100 claims had been settled before it closed to new applications in March 2026. A dispute has also emerged between Harrods and Al Fayed's estate over who should bear the costs.
Survivors at the protest said the process still felt slow and impersonal, and that being made to wait was causing further harm. Their campaign has kept the case in public view even though the central figure can never face trial.
The protest marked an uncomfortable anniversary for one of Britain's most famous shops: two years after the documentary, the argument is no longer only about what Al Fayed did, but about how the institution he ran should answer for it.
The dispute between Harrods and the Al Fayed estate adds a financial dimension to the moral one. Harrods has argued, in effect, that the costs of compensating victims of a former owner's abuse should not rest solely with the business he sold, while lawyers for survivors say such arguments must not become another reason for delay. For the women at the protest, the legal structure mattered less than the experience of waiting: many first came forward in 2024, and some described still feeling treated as an inconvenience rather than as people to whom an institution owed answers.