‘This is class war!’ yelled a thug at an old boy in a blazer
But Day of Rage attracts just a few hundred protesters
Though it had received the blessing of Labour’s high command and had been heavily promoted on social media, yesterday’s so-called ‘day of rage’ against the government became more of a day of road rage for anyone stuck in a vehicle in central London on the hottest afternoon for 40 years.
This protest had been organised on the back of the grenfell Tower disaster but was aimed squarely at the Prime Minister. Many of those directly affected by last week’s fire had begged the organisers not to stage it at all, arguing that it was inappropriate given all the other pressures on the authorities at present. Their pleas fell on deaf ears.
‘hey! hey! Theresa May! how many kids did you kill today?’ the marchers chanted with astonishing insensitivity during a five-mile, two-hour trek from Shepherd’s Bush in West London to Parliament Square, ostensibly in the name of ‘justice for grenfell’.
We only had to see one group of marchers jeering and making obscene gestures at members of the RAF Club, as the protest passed its Piccadilly premises, to realise that other agendas were at work.
‘This is class war!’ yelled a man with a Revolutionary Communist Party banner, raising a finger at an old boy in a blazer looking down from a first-floor balcony.
This was not a large protest – a few hundred at most – and many onlookers will wonder why it was allowed to cause quite so much added disruption on so many key transport routes on a day of major road closures and heightened security for the State opening of Parliament.
The Metropolitan Police, however, were clearly determined to avoid any confrontation or offer the flimsiest excuse for any trouble. NoT
once in the course of a long and ill-tempered afternoon did I see an officer in riot gear. The cops could hardly have been more courteous.
The protesters had started with a small rally on Shepherd’s Bush green, not far from grenfell Tower. But one of the first speakers to take the microphone was a grenfell neighbour who grew increasingly agitated as he deplored the idea of a ‘day of rage’.
‘ Don’t call it that,’ he shouted. ‘Don’t ruin the spirit we’ve built up over the last seven days. If you have to march, do it in silence, not all “whoo, whoo, whoo”.’ None of those who had really suffered, he said, were at this event anyway because they were too busy grieving in private.
This invoked a shouting match with one of the march organisers, a lady called Tina who had turned up with a ‘get her out’ poster featuring Mrs May, and a rucksack with Mr Corbyn’s face above the word ‘hope’. Tina was here to fight austerity, she explained, and so should everyone else.
The man from North Kensington warned her that any violence would be immensely damaging to the grenfell residents’ cause. Everyone assured him it would be entirely peaceful, including the man in front of me with ‘Criminal Damage’ printed on his sports shirt.
It did remain peaceful, if illtempered. The sapping heat and relatively small numbers reduced any prospect of serious public disorder. Kicking off at lunchtime, the march made its way up chi-chi holland Park Avenue, several kerbside diners looking rather uncomfortable as they sat clasping glasses of chilled rosé while the protesters went by.
The march did include some who had been personally affected by the fire, people like Sarah Colborne, 44, wheeling a pram. The fire had claimed the life of a five-year-old friend of her son Josh, she said, and she was still ‘traumatised’.
‘ The authorities are just trickling out the numbers of dead because if people knew the real figure, there’d be a riot,’ she said. But many, per- haps most, of those on parade were here to air more general anti-Tory grievances. one man I met had come from Scotland to take part. Some of their messages were unprintable.
There was a little jostling and some coloured smoke flares went off as the protesters passed Downing Street, chanting, ‘oh, Jeremy Corbyn’. Mr Corbyn and his Shadow Chan- cellor John McDonnell could have earned considerable public admiration if they had suggested that those planning this ‘day of rage’ should desist. But they chose not to.
Instead, Mr McDonnell has urged a million people to take to the streets ten days hence for more of the same. on yesterday’s showing, he may need to revise his figures.