Ex-miners to join the anti-Thatcher protesters in Trafalgar Square
Former miners who say Margaret Thatcher decimated their communities will be joining socialists, travellers, students and anti-capitalist protesters at a demonstration against her legacy in Trafalgar Square on Saturday. A delegation of ex-miners from Durham is due to attend the protest with the north-east area banner and others are expected to travel from former mining heartlands in Yorkshire and Wales. The event, due to start at 6pm, being promoted through various Facebook groups, has gathered momentum this week as the row over Thatcher's legacy has turned increasingly sour.
Tensions were ratcheted up on Friday when mayor of London Boris Johnson said police were prepared for outbreaks of disorder. Speaking to LBC Radio, Johnson said: "We live in a democracy where people are entitled to protest, where they are entitled to have fun and do what they want." However, the mayor became the first senior figure to raise the possibility of violence when he added: "What they can't do is, I think, use the death of an elderly person to begin riot or affray or that sort of thing. So we're getting ready for all that. The police are obviously going to be making sure that if people do break the law they will be properly dealt with." For police the rhetoric around Saturday's protests and speculation about trouble at those events and at the funeral of Baroness Thatcher are some of the factors they are considering as they assess the scale of challenges they face.
Police are privately confident that their ability to analyse social media postings has improved since the riots of 2011 but there remains a nervousness about how peacefully the events will pass off. Hundreds of officers will be kept "kitted up" and ready to be deployed rapidly at any flashpoints amid a determination among police chiefs that control of the streets will not be lost as in the 2011 riots or the attack on Millbank towers in November 2010, during student protests. Met bosses know a sustained loss of control of the streets would be damaging and lead to criticism, as will allegations of over-reaction against people peacefully protesting the Thatcher legacy.
There are no official organisers of Saturday's protest, which is the result of a historical quirk. Two decades ago, the anarchist collective Class War said there should be a gathering at Trafalgar square at 6pm on the first Saturday after Thatcher's death. In 1994, stickers and posters were printed promoting the event, which was then presumed a distant prospect. read more
