Police struggle to control hard-core anarchist rioters after 500,000-strong London march against government cuts ends in violence

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Last updated at 12:03 AM on 27th March 2011

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• Hooded anarchists attack London landmarks linked to luxury and wealth

Trouble continued to flare late into the night as hundreds of people attempted to hijack yesterday's massive anti government cuts demonstration in central London.

Riot police fought activists in Trafalgar Square as violent protesters threatened to overshadow the TUC rally in Hyde Park which had earlier passed off peacefully.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said between 200 and 300 people had gathered at the landmark location late this evening.

Riot: Police officers stand in front of a fire lit be demonstrators in central London last night

He said: 'A large number from the crowd are throwing missiles and have attempted to damage the Olympic clock within the square.

'Officers have come under sustained attack as they deal with the disorder and attempted criminal damage.'

In stark contrast, the daytime demonstration was hailed a 'fantastic success' by trade unions as people from across the UK marched through central London.

Organisers estimated between 400,000 and 500,000 teachers, nurses, firefighters, council and NHS workers, other public sector employees, students, pensioners and campaign groups converged on the capital.

Union officials and Labour leader Ed Miliband condemned the 'brutal' cuts in jobs and services.

Police officers stand in front of a fire lit by rioters

Nightfall: Riot police form lines in front of burning dustbins as they try to control protesters run rampage after the TUC's anti-cuts demonstrations (left) and protesters occupy Trafalgar Square last night

But during the good-natured protest hundreds of activists not connected with the union rally clashed with police in the West End.

Officers were attacked as they tried to stop demonstrators smashing their way into banks and shops.

The protesters surged along Piccadilly, Regent Street and Oxford Street, chanting 'welfare not warfare' as they blocked traffic and forced shops to close.

Paint, fireworks and flares were thrown at buildings, while the outnumbered police were attacked with large pieces of wood.

Branches of HSBC, RBS, Santander and Topshop were among those to have their windows smashed.

Civil disobedience: Demonstrators use a giant road sign to smash through a plate glass window at the Ritz Hotel

Scotland Yard said lightbulbs filled with ammonia were also thrown at their officers.

The police often had to step aside as the activists continued their destruction late into the evening.

Campaign group UK Uncut claimed around 200 of its supporters forced themselves into luxury store Fortnum and Mason - known as the Queen's grocer.

A spokesman for the demonstrators said the target was chosen because 'they dodge tens of millions in tax'.

Under siege: Anti-capitalist protesters surround Fortnum & Mason, climbing on the roof to daub activist graffiti before making their way inside

'Tax the rich': Campaigners claim they targeted Fortnum & Mason because its owners are at the centre of a £40million tax avoidance row

The Met said 202 people had been arrested for a variety of offences including public order offences, criminal damage, aggravated trespass and violent disorder, but the number looked set to rise further.

All those detained remained in custody at various London police stations.

Commander Bob Broadhurst, who led the police operation, said: 'I wouldn't call them protesters. They are engaging in criminal activities for their own ends.'

Sit in: Police finally cleared the store of protesters at about 7pm last night

He added: 'We anticipated there would be some problems. We have minimised the damage caused.

'We'll never have enough officers to protect every building in central London. It cannot be done.'

He added that video evidence would be used in an attempt to make arrests in the coming days.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said he 'bitterly regretted' the violence, adding that he hoped it would not detract from the massive anti-cuts protest.

One rioter tries to break a window at a HSBC bank in Cambridge Circus, central London

Attack: Police forced back about 30 protesters, whose faces were covered by balaclavas and scarves, after several of the ground floor windows were smashed

'I don't think the activities of a few hundred people should take the focus away from the hundreds of thousands of people who have sent a powerful message to the Government today,' Mr Barber said.

'Ministers should now seriously reconsider their whole strategy after last night's demonstration. This has been Middle Britain speaking,' he added.

Mr Barber said unions would now step up pressure on the Government, especially MPs in their constituencies, and launch a series of protests next week in defence of the NHS.

 

I’m proud to stand with you, Miliband tells cuts rally...and then it turns violent

Defiant Labour leader Ed Miliband told demonstrators he was 'proud to stand with them' - just as the protest turned violent

Defiant Labour leader Ed Miliband told demonstrators at yesterday’s anti-cuts rally in London that he was ‘proud to stand with them’ – just as the protest turned violent.

More than 250,000 people marched on the capital to object to the Government’s programme to tackle the deficit. Anarchists later broke away, bringing chaos to the city and targeting buildings such as The Ritz and Fortnum & Mason.

Mr Miliband – heckled by some protesters when he said that ‘some cuts’ were needed – was quick to say that he condemned ‘any action that was taken other than peaceful action’.

But he rejected claims by the Conservatives that he should have stayed away from the rally, which was also attended by Shadow Ministers Ed Balls, Yvette Cooper and Harriet Harman.

‘Our struggle is to fight to preserve, protect and defend the best of the services we cherish because they represent the best of the country we love,’ said Mr Miliband.

‘David Cameron, you wanted to create the Big Society – this is the Big Society. The Big Society is 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.’

Treasury Minister Justine Greening said later the rally would not change the Government’s course.

She added: ‘We are making sure that we are doing everything we can to protect frontline public services.

‘But there is no doubt that we do have to get on with tackling the financial problems we have been handed by the Labour Party. We are going to stick to the course that we have set.’

 

The biased BBC... marching alongside their anti-cut allies

By PETER HITCHENS

As usual, they didn’t even know they were doing it, but the BBC took sides on the TUC protest, even before it had begun. The Corporation and the TUC instinctively recognise each other as allies. Both depend on public money.

This helps to explain the Corporation’s spasm of blatant partiality this weekend. It began with a bizarre report on Friday night on Newsnight. Reporter Anna Adams provided minutes of free publicity to protest group UK Uncut, whose spokeswoman was identified only by her Christian name, Lucy.

Here’s a sample: ‘UK Uncut is a new kid on the block. They only got together after the Chancellor’s Budget cuts last year but they’ve already got quite a following. They are a social media success story and more than 1,000 of them will be out tomorrow. They think that’s more than enough to close down shops and banks.’

So what are their policies? Where do they get their funds? Are they linked to any political organisation? No idea. Nobody asked. Ms Adams then asked the mysterious Lucy: ‘So what’s to stop hooligans or hardline protesters who really have no care for your cause joining in and making this something that it shouldn’t really be?’

Lucy completely failed to answer this question (and it was not pressed). She was too busy making banners and using the BBC to speak her mind, uninterrupted.

She did say: ‘I am concerned that the police will react with violence against protesters in the way that we saw at the student demonstrations before Christmas. But it’s up to us to be there on the streets and saying that the banks should be paying for the crisis, tax-avoiders should be paying their fair share. That’s what we want to do.’

The report concluded with some editorialising about undercover policing: ‘It must be necessary, proportional and lawful, and that’s something that many activists would seriously question.’ No doubt activists would question it, and others too. But by ending her account in this way, the reporter appeared to endorse this view. That is not her job. The Corporation went back into action yesterday, on the Radio 4 Today programme.

The atmosphere of much of its coverage was what might have been found in a Left-wing London household as Granny got out her old Aldermaston marching shoes, the head of the household dusted off his anti-Thatcher placards and the children dressed excitedly for their first demo.

There was a curious anxiety on the programme to say that the march was a ‘family event’. Presenter Evan Davis then stressed that trouble on the streets shouldn’t reflect on the protest as a whole. 

At 8.35 Mr Davis said: ‘100,000 people expected to turn up, coaches are heading for London, even as we speak!’ He then interviewed Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, who warned that the march ‘could I’m afraid move from being a family event into something darker’. Mr Davis hurriedly added: ‘Not organised by the TUC though. The TUC bit will be very peaceful.’ 

Why did he feel it necessary to say this? 

The programme ended with a jokey item in which Guardian writer Zoe Williams and advertising man Jason Berry chatted about march placard slogans. Mr Berry suggested one: ‘The real deficit is in between your ears, Mr Osborne.’ 

Presenter Justin Webb laughed.

There was nobody present to say: ‘Actually, I don’t support this demonstration.’ The whole programme seemed to have identified with the event. Mr Webb said: ‘I remember my mum used to go on CND marches.’

But apparently she didn’t like the way they were covered.

Mr Webb’s Ban-the-Bomb mum wouldn’t have had any complaints about the BBC’s coverage of yesterday’s events. But millions of people who pay heavy taxes on small incomes to keep the public sector afloat, and who also finance the Corporation, have much to complain about. Will anybody ever listen?

Puffed up and self-important, the thugs killing their own cause

By HARRY MOUNT

Yesterday I saw a decent, respectable TUC march hijacked by thugs, vandals and a clueless pack of self-righteous protesters.

As I left the London Library and passed Fortnum & Mason, which had been occupied by protesters from the UK Uncut protest movement,

I saw them daub the front of the 300-year-old shop with the slogans ‘Tory scum’, ‘F*** the Tories’ and ‘Coppers against Cuts’. Orange paint was splashed over the windows.

There were two reasons for the protest, they said: Fortnum’s supposed association with Primark, whose ¬corporate activities they disapprove of, and the fact it is a luxury shop.

Inside, there was a scene of chaos. Beer bottles were dumped among the luxury Easter eggs. Tape reading ‘Closed by UK Uncut’ was wrapped around the Fortnum & Mason signs. Placards had been hurled all over the floor. 

Fake £50 notes with pictures of David Cameron on them were wedgedinto shelves of chocolate eggs, apparently an attack on the tax system for benefiting the rich.

The police behaved impeccably. ‘You can leave now, if you want, and you will not be detained,’ said the policewoman in charge.
They refused to move, guaranteeing trouble, waiting until one of them was finally arrested for aggravated trespass so they could then start to claim they were being victimised. 

Still in the shop were the Fortnum & Mason employees. I asked the floor manager his opinion. He was too dignified to make a comment.

Meanwhile, the protesters had no idea what to do. Puffed up with self-importance, one declared: ‘Any staff who want to leave, can.’

The cheek of it. Why should shop assistants be dictated to by some hopeless protesters?

Outside, a crashing sound echoed as the anarchists smashed windows of a Lloyds TSB. I don’t imagine those ignorant fools knew that the taxpayer owns 41 per cent of the bank. In smashing the windows, they were attacking all British workers.

Earlier, in Hyde Park, I bumped into Tony Benn, who told me: ‘I’m old enough to have protested in favour of the NHS more than 60 years ago – protests always help a cause.’

They do if, like the TUC protesters, they’re dignified and well controlled. The thugs I saw were shooting themselves in the foot in a mad, counter-productive, wicked way.

 

 

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