To show that people oppose the extent and pace of the government's programme of spending cuts and to reject their argument that there is "no alternative" to those cuts[1]
A poster critical of health secretary Andrew Lansley for his plans perceived as including privatisation of the NHS
Various sources estimated that the demonstration was attended by between 250,000 and 500,000 people.[9] It was described as the largest protest in the United Kingdom since the 15 February 2003 anti-war protests and the largest union-organised rally in London since the Second World War.[3][7][10]
Several independent protesting groups, some of whom had moved from the main march, assembled further north in the heart of London's West End, where shops and banks were vandalised and some individuals clashed with police. Further clashes were reported later in Trafalgar Square. 201 people were arrested, and 66 were injured, including 31 police officers.[11]
The government planned to slow the rate of public spending, saying that it was necessary to turn around the country's deficit. The TUC argues that spending reductions are unnecessary[3] because the budget could be balanced with progressive taxes instead and indeed the deep cuts would depress the economy making deeper cuts necessary in the future.[12] They also argue that "raising four pounds through cuts for every pound raised through tax – and doing most of this through a rise in VAT that hits the poor and those on middle income the most – is deeply unfair." They further argue that the recession was created by the finance sector, yet banks are not being asked to make a fair contribution.[1]
The march was four months after the 2010 student protests which focused on spending cuts and changes to higher and further education.
The march
The march was organised by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and promoted as the March for the Alternative. Amongst those joining the march were members of a variety of different sectors in public service, including teachers, nurses and midwives, as well as pensioners, students and direct action supporters.[7][13] 800 coaches and ten trains were laid on to transport demonstrators to London[5] with demand for transport being so high that some of those wishing to travel to the march were unable to do so.[7]
The numbers attending the rally were significantly higher than the TUC's initial estimate of 100,000 people.[15] Some families brought their children on the march, and performances were given by bands, choirs and dancers.[6] The police later stated that the TUC were "very professional" and "very well prepared" with the march.[6]
Hyde Park rally
The march concluded at a rally in Hyde Park, where TUCgeneral secretaryBrendan Barber told demonstrators: "We are here to send a message to the government that we are strong and united... We will fight the savage cuts and we will not let them destroy peoples' services, jobs and lives."[3]
Leader of the oppositionEd Miliband also said: "The Tories [Conservatives] said I should not come and speak today. But I am proud to stand with you. There is an alternative."[3] He went on to criticise the manner in which the coalition government instituted the cuts, issuing a message to David Cameron that "you wanted to create the Big Society – this is the big society. The big society united against what your government is doing to our country. We stand today not as the minority, but as the voice of the mainstream majority in this country."[6] When Miliband stated that certain cuts to the public sector were, in his opinion, necessary, he was heckled and booed by portions of the crowd, although on the whole his speech was well received by the audience.[6]
Direct action
The occupation of Fortnum & Mason
Outside of the main TUC march, various independent protests took place across central London.[3] Over one hundred people including some members of the direct action group UK Uncut occupied the Fortnum & Mason store as a protest against alleged tax avoidance by the business's owners.[16][17] Footage taken from inside the store and released later showed police officers telling protesters they were free to leave, only to be arrested once outside.[18][19] 138 were arrested for aggravated trespass arising from the sit-in occupation of Fortnum & Mason.[20] The charges against five minors were dropped on 30 June and charge against a further 109 activists were dropped on 18 July as they were no longer in the public interest. Charges still remain against 30 who were described as organising the protest.[21]
Dozens of other groups had vowed to hijack the official union-organized protest by staging their own demonstrations intended to cause chaos.[22] Some of those involved in these included alleged anarchists and Black bloc protesters who clashed with police and committed vandalism and criminal damage at a number of locations in the West End. Police vehicles were graffitied and windows were smashed on Oxford Street. Thirteen stores along the street closed early for the day and many West End theatres cancelled the evening's shows.[6][8] Premises damaged included restaurants, the Porsche showroom in Mayfair, the Ritz Hotel, Topshop's flagship store and the banks Santander, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland.[11] 11 people were charged with criminal offences related to violence in the immediate wake of the unrest.[20]
Clashes between protesters and police continued into the night at Trafalgar Square, where missiles were thrown, banners were burned, and Nelson's Column was graffitied.[23][24]
Metropolitan Police commander Bob Broadhurst criticised those who he described as "mindless yobs"[11] in Trafalgar Square and Oxford Street, remarking: "Unfortunately we've had in the region of 500 plus – I would call them criminals – people hiding under the pretence of the TUC march who have caused considerable damage, attacked police officers, attacked police vehicles and scared the general public. Unfortunately, because of their mobility and the fact they are aware of some of our tactics, we have been unable to contain them and so we have had these groups wandering around the central London area."[6] Broadhurst warned that additional charges could be brought against those who escaped arrest on the day as police examined photographs and footage.[25]
However, Brian Paddick, a former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, claimed that there were not enough officers "in the right place at the right time" and suggested intelligence had not been heeded. He told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend: "It appears to me that they just didn't have the right numbers of officers in the right place at the right time to prevent not only the problems at Fortnum & Mason but at Trafalgar Square. Again that was flagged up days before that they wanted to occupy Trafalgar Square. There was a lot more I think they could have done."[26]
Reaction and aftermath
A placard accusing David Cameron is held up in front of a pall of smoke in Oxford Street
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 show Today, the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, acknowledged the concerns of the demonstrators, but defended the implementation of the cuts, stating that "we have to take steps to bring the public finances back into balance."[7]
According to the general secretary of the union Unite, Len McCluskey, the size of the deficit had been "exaggerated"; McCluskey said that up to £25 billion could be collected by reducing tax avoidance.[3]
Business SecretaryVince Cable said that the government will not change its basic economic strategy as a result of the protest.[11] He told The Politics Show: "No government – coalition, Labour or any other – would change its fundamental economic policy simply in response to a demonstration of that kind." He also defended the coalition government as "one of the strongest governments which this country has ever had, facing a major financial crisis".[27]
1 2 Sawer, Patrick; Donnelly, Laura; Howie, Michael; Barrett, David; Leach, Ben (26 March 2011). "TUC protest march: live". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 27 March 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
1 2 Emily Dugan; Kevin Rawlinson; Rachel Shabi; Tom Moseley & Charlie Cooper (27 March 2011). "A peaceful protest. The inevitable aftermath". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
Doward, Jamie; Batty, David (26 March 2011). "Anti-cuts march swells to 400,000". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 26 March 2011. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
Beginning in late 2002 and continuing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, large-scale protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world. After the biggest series of demonstrations, on February 15, 2003, New York Times writer Patrick Tyler claimed that they showed that there were two superpowers on the planet: the United States and worldwide public opinion.
The poll tax riots were a series of riots in British towns and cities during protests against the Community Charge, introduced by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The largest protest occurred in central London on Saturday 31 March 1990, shortly before the tax was due to come into force in England and Wales.
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2010 and 2015. Alongside his brother, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, he served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Fortnum & Mason is an upmarket department store in Piccadilly, London, with additional stores at The Royal Exchange, St Pancras railway station, Heathrow Airport in London and K11 Musea in Hong Kong, as well as various stockists worldwide. Its headquarters are located at 181 Piccadilly, where it was established in 1707 by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason. Today, it is privately owned by Wittington Investments Limited.
On 15 February 2003, a coordinated day of protests was held across the world in which people in more than 600 cities expressed opposition to the imminent Iraq War. It was part of a series of protests and political events that had begun in 2002 and continued as the invasion, war, and occupation took place. The day was described by social movement researchers as "the largest protest event in human history".
The proposed invasion of Afghanistan prompted protests with mass demonstrations in the days leading up to the official launch of the war on October 7, 2001. The continuation of the war in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021 lead to further protest and opposition to hostilities.
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The 2009 May Day protests were a series of international protests that took place across Europe, Asia and in the other parts of the world due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the resulting Great Recession. Several May Day marches, which are traditional events, had turned violent in Germany, Turkey and Venezuela as riot police battled protesters in their respective countries. Banks and shops had been attacked in Turkey.
The anti-austerity movement refers to the mobilisation of street protests and grassroots campaigns that has happened across various countries, especially in Europe, since the onset of the worldwide Great Recession.
The 2010 United Kingdom student protests were a series of demonstrations in November and December 2010 that took place in several areas of the country, with the focal point of protests being in central London. Largely student-led, the protests were held in opposition to planned spending cuts to further education and an increase of the cap on tuition fees by the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government following their review into higher education funding in England. Student groups said that the intended cuts to education were excessive, would damage higher education, give students higher debts, and broke campaign promises made by politicians.
UK Uncut was a network of United Kingdom-based protest groups established in October 2010 to protest against cuts to public services and tax avoidance in the UK. Various sources have described the group as left-wing in its political orientation.
The Kuwaiti protests refers to the series of 2011–2012 demonstrations for government reforms in the state of Kuwait. In November 2011, the government of Kuwait resigned in response to the protests, making Kuwait one of several countries affected by the Arab Spring to experience major governmental changes due to unrest. The protests began with stateless people (Bedoon).
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Occupy London was a political movement in London, England, and part of the international Occupy movement. While some media described it as an "anti-capitalist" movement, in the statement written and endorsed by consensus by the Occupy assembly in the first two days of the occupation, occupiers defined themselves as a movement working to create alternatives to an "unjust and undemocratic" system. A second statement endorsed the following day called for "real global democracy". Due to a pre-emptive injunction, the protesters were prevented from their original aim to camp outside the London Stock Exchange. A camp was set up nearby next to St Paul's Cathedral. On 18 January 2012, Mr Justice Lindblom granted an injunction against continuation of the protest but the protesters remained in place pending an appeal. The appeal was refused on 22 February, and just past midnight on 28 February, bailiffs supported by City of London Police began to remove the tents.
International demonstrations and protests relating to the Syrian Civil War have taken place outside Syria during the war.
Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) is an organisation based in the United Kingdom for disabled people and allies to campaign against the impact of government spending cuts on the lives of disabled people. Formed on 3 October 2010 DPAC promotes full human rights and equality for all disabled people, and operates from the Social Model of Disability.
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