Source: SWP Online
People around the country have been protesting against the savage Tory cuts in George Osborne's Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR).
London
Around 3,000 people gathered at the entrance to Downing Street tonight to protest against George Osborne's cuts package.
Some 2,500 people had marched from Lincoln's Inn Fields to join several hundred already at Downing Street for a rally. People joined the march as it went along.
On the way to Downing Street protesters chanted, "David Cameron, get out, we know what you're all about—cuts, job losses, money for the bosses".
Others shouted, "Unite and fight—general strike!"
Banners on the march reflected the diversity of those protesting. They included Waltham Forest Unison, Islington Trades Council, Holborn & St Pancras Labour Party, Camden Keep Our NHS Public, the Defend Whittington Hospital Campaign, Tower Hamlets Unison, Greenwich NUT, Burslem CWU, GMB Ealing, Defend Council Housing and Goldsmiths UCU.
Demonstrators reached Downing Street and were welcomed by more protesters from the Coalition of Resistance group who had already gathered there.
There were some scuffles with police, who bizarrely tried to snatch the Right to Work campaign banner from women activists at one point.
Demonstrators heard from speakers including Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS union, George Binette, secretary of Camden trades council, and Matt Wrack, general secretary of the FBU.
George Binette described the "insanity of Eton educated, Bullingdon Club Cameron bringing in cuts not seen since the 1920s." He said the Tories would force thousands of people to face "the awful prospect of eviction from London or homelessness".
But, he added, "The resistance has begun."
Many others spoke of the need to fight back together.
"If students and workers march in France, we can do it here as well," Mark Serwotka told the crowd. "The Tories are a bloody disgrace—it's daylight robbery.
"What are we going to do? Industrial action is absolutely inevitable—and we should coordinate it across the unions."
Matt Wrack spoke of the impending strikes in London, as firefighters prepare to walk out this Saturday. "Firefighters in London are on the frontline of Tory attacks," he said.
"The bosses are saying—toe the line or we'll sack you. Well we're walking out on strike.
"Join us on the picket lines on Saturday and support your firefighters."
As demonstrators gathered in Lincoln's Inn Fields, Lucas Tivili, a teacher from Lewisham, told Socialist Worker: "We have to start fighting back against the government. What I heard today from George Osborne sent a chill down my spine—we can't let them destroy everything generations of workers have fought for."
Michelle from King's College was one of the hundreds of students who marched from their universities to join the protest.
"The government wants education geared towards what their friends can make money out of," she told Socialist Worker. "I find that disgusting. They know the price of everything and the value of nothing. I think about my little sister who will now be terrified about coming to university because of the bill at the end of it—but because unemployment is so high what choices are left for people like her?"
Doug, a Unison member from Camden, helped build the protest. He said, "We worked really hard to make sure that all parts of the community are represented here today. I am so proud to see all of the banners from trades councils and different unions. It shows how united we can be and it is this unity which we have to remember over the coming weeks and months. We have to beat these cuts—there is no other way to say it."
Kerry from Camden joined the protest with two of her friends and their children. She told Socialist Worker, "This is the first demonstration I've ever been on. I had to come—I'm so frustrated and angry because of the cuts to schools. My kids will never get to university. They are taking away jobs and benefits at the same time—it doesn't make sense."
Earlier hundreds of students had marched from the University of London Union through central London to the assembly point. Sandy, a student at the London School of Economics, told Socialist Worker, "It feels fantastic to be marching down Kingsway stopping traffic. It gives me a taste of not only what we have to do, but what we are capable of."
The demo from Lincoln's Inn Fields was called by Camden trades council and supported by Holborn & St Pancras Constituency Labour Party, Right to Work Campaign, Keep Our NHS Public, Coalition of Resistance, Islington Hands Off Our Public Services and around 20 union branches, trades councils and student groups.
The Downing Street rally was called by Coalition of Resistance.