Thousands march across UK against govt’s austerity plan
The biggest demonstration was held in London, where a
rally outside the Bank of England marched towards the Houses of
Parliament.
Union leaders and British celebrities including singer Charlotte Church and actor Russell Brand addressed crowds.
End austerity: it’s cheating us all; Jobs not Trident; No cuts; Defy
Tory rule; Cut war not welfare; Stop fracking; a Living Wage for
mothers; and, The Pope gets it, why can’t you? With the slogans
emblazoned on banners, posters and flags, anti-austerity marchers
shouted slogans, sang, and beat drums, as they walked through London in
what is being called the biggest protest march that the city has seen.
The ‘End Austerity Now’ demonstration saw participation by an estimated
crowd of between 70,000 and 250,000, all coming together to protest
against cuts imposed due to austerity, the threats to the National
Health Service, the privatisation of public services and Tory economic
policy.
London has increasingly become the venue of mass protests, and the march
was, equally, testimony to the organisational skills involved in
bringing together disparate groups on a common platform in a spirited
but peaceful way.
Traffic went off the roads of central London from 12 pm, with bus
services suspended for the duration of the march that wound its way from
the City of London right up to Parliament Square. Called by the Peoples
Assembly against Austerity, an umbrella organisation that has united
unions, church groups, citizen organisations, charities and others, the
march was addressed by union leaders, politicians and celebrities, all
of them calling for the end to the welfare cuts that the Conservative
government has announced it will be making.
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