Hundred of thousands protested peacefully in London over government cuts, hundreds broke windows of banks and daubed graffiti on shops
LED BY a cyclist, pulling a large speaker that drummed out a rap beat, a hundred or so self-proclaimed anarchists dressed in black and red marched down Oxford Street on Saturday afternoon, then minutes later marched back up again.
A gangly youth, carrying a placard proclaiming him as a “Post-Materialist Youth Trying to Rediscover The Insignificant”, stood with friends on the pavement, as helmeted police told onlookers to move back.
Nearby, another protester, dressed in fashionable brand names, lectured a friend on the nomenclature of revolt: “You can’t be an anarchic communist,” she said, shaking her head earnestly, “they don’t exist.”
Hours earlier, small groups of protesters had once again targeted Topshop on Oxford Street, daubing windows, in retaliation for owner Philip Green’s decision to avoid a tax bill running into hundreds of millions.
Within minutes, that attack and the more violent ones on HSBC and Santander branches – neither of which needed support during the financial crisis – dominated TV coverage of London’s TUC-organised cuts protest.
Peaceful protesters, who had travelled from all parts of the UK, some with children in tow, began to congregate on Victoria Embankment before 11am to march on Hyde Park. Peaceful though they were, their anger over the cuts was palpable.
Police, none of whom at that stage wore riot-gear, chatted with the crowds, taking good-natured banter in good part. “I bet you’d love to be marching with us, given the cuts that you lot are going to take,” said one marcher.
From there, they walked past the Houses of Parliament; slowing down to boo the prime minister, David Cameron, but, most particularly, Liberal Democrat leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, as they passed Downing Street.
Having streamed into Hyde Park, they heard a wave of speakers, led by TUC general secretary Brendan Barker attack the pace and depth of the cuts: “These will hit the poorest hardest. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar.”
Labour leader Ed Miliband, dressed soberly in a suit and tie, said he had been told by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats “that I shouldn’t come here today, but I am proud to stand with you”.
Miliband, who stayed away from last year’s tuition fees protests, had thought hard before attending, fearful he would be damaged in the eyes of the middle-ground if the protests turned violent; but criticised, too, if he did not turn up.
He was not universally welcomed. Socialist Party members booed and chanted, “Get off the stage”, while a couple of CND members moved closer, shouting: “Is your brother still a Bilderberg member?”
The crowd, he said, stood “in the shadow of those who protested before us”, listing the suffragettes, Martin Luther King, and, later, the anti-apartheid campaign. Even some in the crowd chuckled at the idea that they should be compared with the US civil rights leader.
Declaring the protesters as “the Big Society”, Miliband cautioned: “I believe there is a need for difficult choices and some cuts”. This earned him no support and some boos, but he went on: “It is important that this is a peaceful protest remembered for its protest” and not for anything else.
His worry was well-founded, because a mile away the tiny minority intent on violence had begun to break the front windows of the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly, nearby banks, a branch of Starbucks and a Porsche dealership. The 4,500 police on duty, drafted in from miles around, struggled to contain them. By day’s end, more than 220 people would be arrested.
Back in Hyde Park, Safdar Butt, a retired Pakistani living in London for 49 years, looked at Miliband with disdain: “They started all this privatisation. What is the difference between New Labour and the Tories? No difference,” he said.
Union leader Mark Serwotka, demanding a general strike, said: “We must oppose every single cut. If we don’t we will have to choose between students and pensioners.”
Railing against the impact on the arts, actor and Equity member Sam West told the crowd: “The Conservatives don’t like the arts because it educates and enlightens the people.”
Education secretary Michael Gove, he said, had said just days before that children should read 50 books a year. “So why close 540 libraries? Is he governing only for those who can buy them, not borrow them?”
By 5pm, marchers were still coming in, justifying the TUC’s claims that they “had stopped counting after 250,000”– making Saturday the largest demonstration in London since the march against the Iraq War in 2003.
On Piccadilly, UK Uncut, a loose alliance of activists campaigning against tax avoidance, had by now peacefully occupied Fortnum and Masons – known as “the Queen’s grocers” – which is owned by Wittington Investments. The occupation ended some time after 7pm with some arrests. The activists said Wittington – which is owned by the Weston family who control Brown Thomas, and by a charitable trust set up by the wealthy Canadian family – had escaped a £40 million tax bill.
Twitter was soon alive with charges that UK Uncut “is now targeting charities” since the trust donates about £40 million a year, although the occupation was “justified” on the grounds that the trust had also breached charity laws by donating £1 million to the Conservatives.
A phalanx of riot police marched four abreast down Old Bond Street, heading for Fortnum and Masons, while inside luxury shoeshop René Caovilla, a woman, ignoring the hubbub outside, gave rapt attention to a pair of high heels she was trying on.
On Bond Street, jewellers had thought it wiser to close, leaving the windows of Moira’s, Chopard’s, Bulgari and Piaget empty.
Back on Oxford Street, Hare Krishnas, wearing Nike, danced and chanted, handing out leaflets.