Women Who Eat On Tubes page closed by Facebook, man behind it completely ...

The WWEOT page has been criticised for being objectifying and sexist towards women (Picture: Caters)The controversial Women Who Eat On Tubes (WWEOT) page has been taken down by Facebook - but the man who started it has defended his 'observational study'.

After weeks of debate, the page that shows pictures of women eating on the London Underground without their permission has finally been removed from the social media site.

Tony Burke, the filmmaker who set up the group, confirmed that Facebook had taken down the page this morning.

'Catching people unawares is the art,' explained an unrepentant Mr Burke on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning.

'I think what is interesting about Women Who Eat On Tubes is that it's thrown up a number of little tributaries of discussion,' he added.

The page has been accused of objectifying women and invading privacy and has spurred numerous spin-off accounts - including a protest group that aims to get as many women as possible to eat on the Circle line next Monday.

There is also a page that targets the people who post the photos - titled Men Who Post on the Women Who Eat On Tubes page - as well as a group called Women Who Eat Wherever the F*** They Want.

A duplicate page has already been launched for WWEOT which is reposting many of the group's original pictures and the Tumblr website that initially hosted the photos is still running.

Listen to the full interview on the Today programme here.