Unions hail peaceful march a success

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Union leaders condemn actions of several hundred not associated with main rally who caused damage and clashed with police in parts of central London More than 200 protesters are in police custody and a clean-up operation is under way after anti-cuts activists smashed shop windows in London’s West End and clashed with riot police following Saturday’s peaceful TUC Hyde Park rally. Union leaders condemned the actions of several hundred people not associated with the main rally who wreaked havoc along Oxford Street, Regent Street and Piccadilly, targeting shops and banks, cracking windows, throwing paint and hurling missiles including, said police, lightbulbs filled with ammonia. At least 84 people were injured, including 31 officers, 12 of whom required hospital treatment for “relatively minor injuries”. The day ended with late-night confrontations between police and around 300 demonstrators, who converged on Trafalgar Square where they were contained until the early hours. The TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, said he “bitterly regretted” the violence that occurred away from the main march and rally, which had been attended by “between 250,000 and 500,000″ and was hailed a “fantastic success”. Organisers hoped the actions of a small number of activists would not detract from the massive anti-cuts protest and the powerful message “middle Britain” had sent to the government. Senior Labour figures have mounted a co-ordinated defence of the demonstration, condemning the violence but demanding that the government answer the charge made by thousands of peaceful marchers. Shadow ministers were also forced to defend Miliband’s decision to attend the event, after Tory accusations that he had aligned himself with unions against all deficit reduction. Michael Fallon, the deputy chairman of the Conservative party, accused Labour of “breathtaking levels of deceit over the economy” and Miliband personally of “insulting” the suffragettes and anti-Apartheid movement by comparing their struggle to opposition to government cuts in his address to the rally. Vince Cable, the business secretary, insisted that the government was listening to citizens who were lawfully demonstrating against its programme of cuts, but said it would not alter its course. “Certainly we’re listening, and I talk regularly to the trade union movement. I think [it's] important we have a dialogue with them, but we’re not going to change the basic economic strategy,” he said. Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary, condemned a “tiny minority of violent, parasitic, unrepresentative hooligans who are trying to destroy” the right to peaceful protest. “He [Miliband] said he acknowledged there was a need for tough choices and some cuts, and it seems that on the one hand you’ve got the government who are saying that all of these cuts are necessary and on the other you have a minority of demonstrators who say none of the cuts are necessary,” he told the BBC’s Politics Show. Miliband told the crowds on Saturday: “We come in the traditions that have marched in peaceful but powerful protest for justice, fairness and political change. “The suffragettes who fought for votes for women and won. The civil rights movement in America that fought against racism and won. The anti-Apartheid movement that fought the horror of that system and won.” Murphy said his comments reflected the scale of public feeling against the cuts, but Harriett Baldwin, MP for West Worcestershire, said: “For Ed Miliband to compare himself to the anti-Apartheid campaigners fighting for equal rights for blacks, or to the suffragettes’ struggle for votes for women, just beggars belief. His self-important comments are an insult to those who risked and gave their lives in the fight for equality.” Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said “violent thugs and criminals” who took part in the clashes should face the full force of the law. “I do hope that the government listens to that strength of feeling, there were people from all walks of life there… and there was this very strong message that people do think that the government has got this wrong.” The Metropolitan police confirmed 201 people had been arrested and were being held in 21 police stations across the capital. Detectives have begun examining CCTV footage from the stores and buildings in the streets affected. Commander Bob Broadhurst, in charge of the Met operation, claimed officers had had to deal with “mindless yobs” around Trafalgar Square. “We’ve had a number of – I hestitate to call them protesters – a bunch of people that ended up in Trafalgar Square.” A group of between 100 and 150 people ran off, ripping open litter bins and throwing bricks and flares, he said. “This is just mindless vandalism, hooliganism, it’s nothing to do with protest”, said Broadhurst, adding the force would never have enough officers to protect every building in central London. There was criticism of the police operation, with accusations that officers should have been better prepared. Former Met deputy assistant commissioner Brian Paddick said there were not enough officers “in the right place at the right time”. He added: “There was a lot more I think they could have done”. But London’s deputy mayor, Kit Malthouse, said criticisms of alleged intelligence failings by the Met were “unfair” and that officers had carried out “a huge amount of work” in preparation for the march. Malthouse, who chairs the Metropolitan police authority, condemned perpetrators of the violence as “fascist agitators” and a “nasty bunch of black-shirted thugs”. In Trafalgar Square, where demonstrators had scrawled graffiti on Nelson’s Column and on one of its four bronze lions, street cleaners were busy jet-hosing the paving stones as part of a clean-up operation likely to cost tens of thousands of pounds. Red paint still remained on the 2012 Olympic clock, and a placard reading “Kill the Cuts” hung from the bronze statue of Saint Vincent. Cleaning teams were also in force outside Topshop’s flagship store in Oxford Circus, targeted by protesters who threw paint, fireworks and smoke grenades in protest over allegations of tax avoidance by big businesses. The store was open for business by 11am on Sunday. At luxury grocery store Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly, which the campaign group UK Uncut claimed was occupied by around 200 of its supporters, paint was being scrubbed from brickwork. Meanwhile, workmen boarded up nine windows which had been smashed on the front facade of the Ritz hotel nearby. Guests had been moved to a private dining area at the rear of the hotel during the disturbances. Emergency glaziers were replacing smashed windows with boards at Santander and Lloyds TSB branches in Piccadilly. Unions are planning fresh campaigns in the coming days against cuts in the NHS, as well as considering co-ordinated industrial action. Public sector cuts Liberal-Conservative coalition TUC Trade unions Economic policy Labour Ed Miliband Yvette Cooper London Police Caroline Davies Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk

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Posted by on March 27, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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