{"id":160335,"date":"2015-06-20T16:46:35","date_gmt":"2015-06-20T16:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=160335"},"modified":"2015-06-20T16:47:26","modified_gmt":"2015-06-20T16:47:26","slug":"massive-anti-austerity-march-london-mounts-biggest-challenge-tory-cuts-videos-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/latest-news\/massive-anti-austerity-march-london-mounts-biggest-challenge-tory-cuts-videos-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"London marches against austerity"},"content":{"rendered":"

(RT<\/a>) –\u00a0Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of London on Saturday in the UK\u2019s biggest anti-austerity rally for years to oppose the new Tory government\u2019s program of social benefit cuts and privatization. A reported 250,000 attended the rally.<\/p>\n

People flocked to the British capital from across the country
\nthis weekend, with over 80,000 people having confirmed their
\nintention to attend the major demonstration on social media.
\nNeither police nor organizers had an immediate estimate for the
\nnumber of protesters, but organizers have expected attendance of
\nup to and over 70,000 people.<\/p>\n

There have been unconfirmed reports that a quarter of a million
\npeople attended the rally.<\/p>\n

\n

Turns out it wasn’t 70,000 who marched against austerity… It
\nwas 250,000. #EndAusterityNow<\/a>pic.twitter.com\/j7uCXcpQWY<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 George Aylett (@GeorgeAylett) June
\n20, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Having started at 12 noon local time, the protesters gathered
\nnear the Bank of England in London’s financial district, to then
\nmarch through the streets of central London toward the
\nParliament.<\/p>\n

\n

On top of an #FBU<\/a> truck
\nreporting on #EndAusterityNow<\/a>
\nmarch! Crowds as far as eye can see. Watch live on @RT_com<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/HDcDBKLZtg<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Daniel Hawkins (@DanhawkinsDh) June
\n20, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Sheer diversity of people<\/em>” gathered to protest against
\nBritish government austerity programs and spending cuts, RT’s UK
\ncorrespondent Daniel Hawkins reported. The rally united people
\n“from a huge variety of backgrounds<\/em>,” all angry about
\ncuts to the public spending and public services.<\/p>\n

\n

#london<\/a>#NoMoreAusterity<\/a>
\nrally at Bank of England – streets packed, main march not even
\nstarted #junedemo<\/a>
\n#… https:\/\/t.co\/TcSLkPxbog<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Daniel Hawkins (@DanhawkinsDh) June
\n20, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Organized by The People’s Assembly Against Austerity, an umbrella
\ngroup with support from trade unions, anti-war protesters and
\nsome Labor and Green Party politicians, the march sees a heavy
\npresence of left-wing activists, but also includes a lot of
\nordinary workers, people from the public sector, private sector
\nand trade unions.<\/p>\n

\n

#sistersuncut<\/a>
\nat #NoMoreAusterity<\/a>
\nrally #london<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/xDR5kcIQJE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Daniel Hawkins (@DanhawkinsDh) June
\n20, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Activists have been carrying banners reading “No Cuts<\/em>,”
\n“No More Austerity<\/em>,” “Cut War Not Welfare<\/em>” and
\n“Get the Tories Out<\/em>” among others, Sputnik news agency
\nreported.<\/p>\n

“We struggle for every pound<\/em>,” “the government… is
\ntaking money away from us all the time<\/em>,” and “it’s very
\ndisturbing to think where it’s going<\/em>” protesters told RT.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \u2018Race to the bottom\u2019: \u00a315bn
\nwelfare cuts will cause \u2018enormous hardship,\u2019 says
\neconomist<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Anti-nuclear activists and union leaders joined the
\ndemonstration, Sputnik reported local media as saying.<\/p>\n

\n

Black Bloc activists chant during London anti-austerity rally
\nLIVE NOW: http:\/\/t.co\/vzyu5jshTo<\/a> #EndAusterityNow<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/clmZiJgmD9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Ruptly (@Ruptly) June 20,
\n2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“What’s happening is the people who are dependent on state
\nbenefits, which is generally people who are very poor, disabled,
\nsick, people with children, people who can’t afford to pay their
\nrent \u2014 all of those people will be directly hit [by the
\ngovernment policies]. But it’s all going to affect a much wider
\ngroup of people<\/em>,” Lindsey Ann German from the Stop the War
\ncoalition, who stood twice as candidate for Mayor of London, told
\nRT.<\/p>\n

\n

” we won’t be turned against one another, black against white,
\nMuslims against Christians we won’t have it”<\/p>\n

\u2013 People’s Assembly (@pplsassembly) June
\n20, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Demanding a change of policy, German suggested money should be
\ntaken “from the corporations, from the rich rather than from
\nthe people who really can’t afford to give it<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Military chiefs secretly lobby Osborne to
\nprotest defense cuts<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s march was intended to be peaceful. A small number of
\nprotesters let off red-colored smoke flares, but the rally has
\nbeen almost universally good natured, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n

\n

The march is massive and good natured. Unlike the Tory party
\n#endausteritynow<\/a>pic.twitter.com\/KUxfb0Xxm3<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 Jacky Davis (@DrJackyDavis) June
\n20, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ahead of the protest, several people suspected of offenses in
\nprevious demonstrations have been reportedly arrested. Citing
\nsources, The Guardian said the Metropolitan Police started a
\ncrackdown on activists, preventing them from participating in
\nSaturday\u2019s protest.<\/p>\n

\"Demonstrators<\/p>\n

“There seems to be a massive crackdown. There is some sort of
\npolitical motivation behind all of this<\/em>,” an activist with
\nanarchist group Class War, Lisa McKenzie, was quoted as saying by
\nthe Guardian.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Nearly 25% of Welsh people in
\npoverty, damning report reveals<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: What can UK voters expect from Tory
\nmajority govt?<\/a><\/p>\n

The event’s organizers say Saturday\u2019s march will only be the
\nstart of a major nationwide campaign. “It will be the start
\nof a campaign of protest, strikes, direct action and civil
\ndisobedience in the country. We will not rest until austerity is
\nhistory<\/em>,” Sputnik quoted Sam Fairbairn, of the People’s
\nAssembly, as telling UK media.<\/p>\n

A number of anti-austerity protests have been happening since
\nnational elections in May, when the Conservatives were
\nunexpectedly reelected with an outright majority. People have
\nbeen taking to the streets against Tory policies, with
\ndemonstrators being angry at public sector cuts meant to address
\ngovernment deficits.<\/p>\n

READ
\nMORE: \u2018Misery for millions\u2019: CBI backs more austerity, despite
\nslashing GDP forecast<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In 2010, the party introduced a five-year austerity program,
\nhaving led a coalition focused on cutting public spending. It was
\nrecently announced the government would adopt a further approach
\nto reducing the national deficit, that would include extra
\nwelfare and spending cuts.<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(RT) –\u00a0Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of London on Saturday in the UK\u2019s biggest anti-austerity rally for years to oppose the new Tory government\u2019s program of social benefit cuts and privatization. A reported 250,000 attended the rally. People flocked to the British capital from across the country this weekend, with over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,18,1615],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-160335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-latest-news","9":"category-uk-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}