News / News Wire
Anti-austerity protest to start in centre
A protest against cuts set to be imposed by the new Conservative government will now take place in the centre by the fountains and will be followed by a march.
Demonstrators, organised by Bristol Against Austerity, plan to meet in the centre at 5pm before marching up Park Street, around the Triangle, back down Park Street and up Corn Street to Castle Park.
Bristol Against Austerity, run by an all-female group of sixth form students, said more than 3,500 people had signed up to the march on Facebook.
Hannah Patterson, one of the organisers, insisted the march should be peaceful in the wake of violent clashes at a similar protest in London last weekend.
She said: “We have really emphasised we want this to be a peaceful event because violence is not what we are about.”
She added: “As a Labour majority city we want to send a message that we will not lie down and take the Tory cuts to welfare.
“We just believe that the Conservative party stand for fundamentally elitist principles and we want to stand up to that.”
The Conservative Party are thought to be planning about £12 billion of welfare cuts in the coming parliament.
Protests in London on Sunday ended with violent clashes and 15 arrests, with “Tory scum” being daubed on a war memorial.
The Bristol demonstration had initially been planned for Queen Square.