(ANTIMEDIA) UK – Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to cause chaos in central London this Saturday in a mass demonstration against austerity measures.
The march, organized by The People’s Assembly Against Austerity, was planned immediately after David Cameron’s Conservative government was re-elected, much to the dismay and disgust of swaths of the British public.
The demonstration will begin this Saturday at 12pm at the doorstep of the elites who’ve helped create the current mess in the U.K. Thousands will assemble at the Bank of England—in the heart of the city of London—before marching through London to Parliament.
With 65,000 signed up to attend via the Facebook event and buses driving from over seventy different towns and cities throughout the U.K., this is going to be big.
So big, in fact, that London police have warned motorists not to drive and to expect significant delays if travelling around the city. The Met is expected to make a statement about the march on Friday.
An interactive map of meeting points for different groups can be found here.
The impressive list of those taking to the streets includes local peace assemblies, education representatives, anti-fascist and anti-racism groups, musicians, immigrants rights groups, anti-war and peace groups, climate & green blocs, representatives of probation and family courts, Housing & NHS representatives, trade unions Unison and Unite, social workers, Feminists Against Austerity, Economists against Austerity, and the Deaf and Transport campaigns and unions.
Far-left group, Class War, is planning a separate demonstration at the same time, claiming the main demonstration will fail to bring about change. In what could be considered contempt prior to investigation, the group is distancing itself from the main demonstration, which it has called “Boring A to B marches organized by self-appointed committees working alongside police, with dull speeches either end.”
During the last anti-austerity demonstrations in Whitehall in May, five people were arrested during what was a predominantly peaceful protest.
As organizers and participants gather in a spirit of solidarity and anger at injustice alongside victims of this government’s policies, are we seeing the beginning of a fresh movement here in the U.K.? A movement of civil disobedience to disrupt the status quo? Have we just about had enough of watching public services eaten away, increased NHS privatization, tax breaks for the wealthy, and massive cuts to welfare that affect the vulnerable?
Someone once said it’s important to see a government or regime like a table. Now, the job of the movement is to knock the legs out from under that table—one by one, until it can no longer stand. This weekend, people in the U.K. are beginning with the first leg of the table by heading to the belly of the beast, the corridors of power—the central London streets on a Saturday—and gridlocking the central London Transport system.