Police had to be brought in to clear cuts protesters

Published: 4 March, 2011

• I MUST contradict the football crowd invaders who colonised the Town Hall public gallery on February 17 (Call for united front after police clear cuts protesters, February 25). It was necessary to call in the police.

An Islington resident, there to ascertain what was happening with Sotheby Mews, I was bullied out of the gallery by these self-centred, self-promoting gatecrashers. Warning was given several times that the gallery would be cleared if behaviour did not improve. The council had little choice but to resume the meeting elsewhere.

Because I asked that I be able to hear what officers and councillors were saying, it was assumed I was supporting cuts and I was violently turned on with “No cuts” being yelled in my face. I have encountered anti-social youth gangs who have had more empathy for their victim. The behaviour of these people has worked against those opposing the cuts.

When Councillor Janet Burgess, who helped secure more than £50,000 funding for Sotheby Mews, rose to speak, two males in the gallery immediately targeted her as a woman and started yelling abuse. The public gallery was treated as a picnic area by some and used as a bin for their food scraps.

Partially deaf and very shocked, I emerged into the clean air just as police arrived. I doubt if any of these people who made it impossible for residents to exercise their democratic rights have put in any meaningful work in the last few months on behalf of funding for individual groups.

Ten years ago I sat in the same gallery and witnessed the Lib Dem majority massacre the voluntary sector to enable them to claim they had reduced council tax. Throughout their reign, they ran a campaign closing day centres for the elderly and buildings used by the disabled and vulnerable. 

In contrast, they squandered £96,000 on a flower wall, £49,000 on unnecessary BlackBerry phones, £90,000 on advisors and £15,000 on a theatre group to show officers how to answer the phone. That night the Lib Dems had already positioned police in the gallery before the public were allowed access. Without need for them, the police left within an hour.

ROISIN NI CORRAIN
N1

q How could members of Islington anti-cuts campaign group be left with any credibility if they were to march alongside Labour councillors on the anti-cuts demonstration on March 26?

Is Islington Hands Off Our Public Services (IHOOPS) really campaigning for “No cuts” or is it just protesting against the coalition government? After all, prior to the election and the shift of power, Labour was also preparing to drop a heavy load of austerity measures on the British public.

Recently we’ve had Labour leader Councillor Catherine West standing behind the IHOOPS banner and Councillor Phil Kelly carrying a “No cuts” placard on an Islington anti-cuts march. On the same demo MP Jeremy Corbyn addressed the crowd, voicing opposition to the cuts and spoke of the alternatives. 

Less than two weeks later, Labour councillors voted to accept the government’s £52million reduction in the local budget and called police to the council chambers to forcefully remove protesters. 

It would seem Mr Corbyn approves of these decisions, as he has signed a letter along with MP Emily Thornberry backing the council. 

Is this not hypocrisy? How can you say you are against the cuts and still vote them through? If Labour councillors are really opposed to these cuts, they should be outside the Town Hall with the protesters.

At the same time the anti-cuts movement should not let these councillors and MPs anywhere near their campaigns. These are the very same people, along with bankers, who got us into this mess. 

GLEN HURST
Lennox Road, N4

• I WAS forcibly and violently ejected from the public gallery at the Town Hall by police on February 17, despite breaking no law and doing nothing other than exercising my democratic right to protest against the Labour council’s implementation of a punitive cuts budget that will further disadvantage the borough’s poorest residents.

I am therefore stunned by last week’s article about “healing the rift”. The councillors have made it quite clear they are not on the side of the people. How can we possibly “march together”?  It would be farcical.

Furthermore, MP Jeremy Corbyn, who purports to be anti-cuts (and who was conveniently not in London as the council passed the budget and called the police on protesters), has come out in support of the council. What does this say about him?

Labour councillors cannot simply blame central government (and if they insist on doing so should remember that the bank bail-out and attacks on public services began when Labour was in power).  They could take a stand and refuse to pass a cuts budget. Instead, not only do they capitulate entirely to central government but add insult to injury by using the police against the very people they claim to support.

Yes, a “whole Islington” contingent on March 26 is a good idea, but “whole Islington” in this context should mean bringing together all the different groups affected by the cuts to put our demands across together in unity. It can’t possibly mean asking those at the sharp end of the cuts to march with the very people implementing them. 

NICKI LONDON
EC1