SINGER Charlotte Church branded austerity "unethical, unfair and unnecessary" yesterday as she joined demonstrators marching in protest in London against Government cuts.
The demonstration - the biggest in Britain for several years - began in the heart of the financial district and snaked its way to Parliament. Organisers estimated 250,000 people had attended the march.
Church described the idea that Britain needs austerity as "the big lie".
She said: "What this country needs is economic stimulation - most economists around the world would say the same. We need to get the blood pumping."
She called for the country to rally and "save ourselves from decades of yuppie rule".
Comedian Russell Brand also addressed the crowds, saying: "Without a welfare state I wouldn't have been educated, without a welfare state I wouldn't have had anywhere to live, without a welfare state my mum would've died of cancer several times."
Organiser the People's Assembly Against Austerity had promised a festival atmosphere and the Metropolitan Police said no arrests were made.
A loud boo erupted through the crowd as it passed Downing Street and a red flare was set off, filling part of Whitehall with thick scarlet smoke.
An anti-austerity demonstration was also held in Liverpool yesterday. Sam Fairbairn, of the People's Assembly, said it was the beginning of a campaign of "protest, strikes, direct action and civil disobedience up and down the country".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article