politics | HUGE Protests across the UK (Reply)

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ontd_political
Protesters Occupy Fortnum and Mason Posh UK store

UK Uncut secret occupation revealed as Fortnum & Mason 3.30pm – UK Uncut occupy Fortnum & Mason and aim to stay for as long as possible

UK Uncut groups from across the country transofrmed banks and shops on Oxford Street into hospitals, libraries and theatres with Sam West, Josie Long and Mark Thomas performing.

UK Uncut, the anti-cuts direct action group, are currently occupying Fortnum & Mason over the tax dodge of over 40 million by its owners Whittington Investments which have a 54% stake in Associated British Foods who produce Ryvita, Kingsmill and others and own Primark. ABF have dodged over £40 million in tax. Over 500 activists congregated on Oxford Circus from the march and from Oxford Street where they had been transforming tax dodging retailers such as Vodafone, Boots and BHS where actors Sam and Timothy West performed and Soho Square where comedians Josie Long and Mark Thomas performed stand up comedy gigs. The activists left Oxford Circus at 3:30 reaching Fortnum & Mason by 4 PM. They are vowing to stay for as long as possible in the shop where there will be music, speeches and games. MORE

Yesterday the Guardian profiled the different protester groups that planned to take part: Anti-Cut March, The Protesters

Trade unions

Trade unionists are likely to make up the overwhelming bulk of today's demonstrators. The TUC is predicting between 100,000 and 200,000 – although some think the figure could be far higher – with delegations travelling to London from almost all of the 55 affiliated unions. While the majority are expected to arrive on public transport, 828 coaches and at least 10 trains have been chartered to bring people from as far afield as Cornwall and Inverness. The TUC is providing more than 1,500 stewards and bands will provide entertainment along the route.Journalists

Aside from those covering the demonstration, journalists from newspapers, television and online will march under the National Union of Journalists banner as part of the Federation of Entertainment Unions

Parents and toddlers
Thousands of families and young children are expected to join the demonstration. Among them will be a coachload of "mums and toddlers" from Hampshire, who are demonstrating against the closure of their Sure Start centres in the county. "So many people rely on these centres and we are going to lose a third of them," said Catherine Ovenden, who is planning to bring her two children, Lily, two, and Amy, three, on the march. "This is going to have a huge impact and people are really angry."

Pensioners
Pensioners from across the country will be marching in a dedicated bloc in Saturday's demonstration amid rising anger about the changes to the pensions system and the impact of the government's cuts on older people. Neil Duncan-Jordan from the National Pensioners Convention said he had not seen members so energised and motivated for more than a decade.

Football supporters
Members of the football supporters' union the Spirit of Shankly are travelling by coach from Liverpool. The group, which was formed three years ago and campaigns on football and wider social issues, has 11,000 members. Roy Bentham, 43, said: "There was a vote and our membership decided we should support the TUC and the march, that we should do our bit to oppose what is going on, so we are setting off at 4.30am and hope to be in London by about 10am."

UK UNCUT

UK Uncut, a peaceful direct action group set up five months ago to oppose government cuts and protest against corporate tax avoidance, is calling on its supporters to occupy and close down scores of shops on Oxford Street.
Since it was formed, UK Uncut has forced the temporary closure of branches of more than 100 high-street stores including Vodafone, Topshop and Boots, which it accuses of having avoided billions of pounds in tax – a claim disputed by the companies. During its last two days of action activists targeted high-street banks, which they argue are largely responsible for the economic crisis.
More than a dozen separate UK Uncut groups from around the country will head to Oxford Street at 2pm, where they will stage 14 separate protests before descending on a new, as yet unannounced, target at 3.30pm. Actor Sam West and comedians Josie Long and Mark Thomas will be joining in the protests.
Armchair army

And for those who can't make the demonstration, there is also the "first armchair army virtual march". The Facebook group, which has more than 1,600 members, states: "This group is for people who are not able to attend the national march in protest at the horrific cuts being made by this government. YOU can add real and massive support to the march by BOMBARDING news/media with your letters and messages of support PLUS The Police, and even more

Belfast March in Solidarity with The March for the Alternative

Trade unionists will lead a mass rally in Belfast tomorrow against the cuts and austerity policies of Britain's Con-Dem government.

On the same day that up to a million people are expected to take to the streets of central London, protesters will depart from Belfast's UU Art College on York Street at 12.30pm and there will be a short rally at Belfast City Hall at 1pm.

After the rally, participants will be encouraged to go on a mass leafleting of Belfast, raising the public's awareness of the scale of the cuts and the alternatives promoted by the trade union movement, such as tax fairness and investment in growth.

On the eve of the rally, Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ITUC) assistant general secretary Peter Bunting said: "The rally in Belfast will coincide with the March for the Alternative that the TUC is organising in London, but we here in Northern Ireland will have an additional focus - the Assembly elections.

"We will be marching in spirit if not in step with our sisters and brothers in London in clear opposition to the austerity policies of the Con-Dem coalition government." MORE

Belfast marks 'March for Alternative'

Workers March in Spending Cuts Backlash

The Londonists Live Blog

The Socialist Worker Live Blog

In pictures: Spending Cuts March Through London

Penny Red: Why I am marching today

I'm marching because I'm afraid. I'm afraid that everything precious about modernity might be destroyed by a cabal of financiers and aristocrats who own everything and answer to noone. I'm afraid that the civil humanity of welfare, healthcare, public education, art, science and protection for minorities and the dispossessed that so many hundreds of people fought and died for over three long centuries of struggle, I'm afraid that that might all be taken away because some millionaires have decided they're not being paid enough.

I'm afraid that the governments of Europe and America and the Middle East will continue to listen to those millionaires and only to those millionaires whilst their people cry out for relief. I'm afraid that they'll carry on taking the best ideals of human decency and twisting them into tortured pastiches of principle. I'm afraid that in thirty years the word "freedom" will mean only only military imperialism, the word "democracy" only the bloody enforcement of western corporate hegemony, the word "liberty" only the blithe self-interest of the few, the word "fairness" only the moral imposition of austerity by governments soaked in oil-money, in blood-money, in money summarily appropriated from struggling taxpayers to fund the debts of the rich.

I'm afraid that if we don't turn and fight for those principles, they will cease to exist, at least in the way we understand them.MORE

Penny Red's Twitter

Coaches travelled in from Wales to join the March

Johann Hari This budget was about redistribution of wealth - from you, to the rich

The primary effect of this budget will be to dramatically redistribute wealth. That sounds good, until you realize the wealth is being taken from the middle class and the poor, and handed to the only people Osborne has ever really known: the super-rich. This trend has been going on for a long time. Since the election of Margaret Thatcher, the value of wages has declined from 65% of GDP to 55%. Where did it go? The rate of corporate profit – given to wealthy shareholders – has increased from 13% to 21%. The money has gone from people like teachers and small business owners, to people like George Osborne, who own big companies, and has millions of inherited and unearned pounds stashed off-shore.

Yesterday, that process of redistribution away from you was supercharged by the Tories. The budget was “fiscally neutral”, meaning the overall level of tax in the economy remained the same. But money was reshuffled – from one class to another. The huge cuts to corporation tax are being paid for by you, in higher VAT, and worse public services. You pay more, so Tesco and Sainsbury’s and Philip Green can take more. This isn’t about attracting inward investment – countries with higher corporation taxes than us attract more, by having highly trained and skilled workforces. No: it’s about an inward transfer of wealth.MORE

Any links I missed? Anyone went and have tales to share? Let me know!!!