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Thousands expected at Glasgow anti-austerity rally

This news post is almost 9 years old
 

​George Square protest expected to attract thousands

Thousands are expected to take part in an anti-austerity rally in Glasgow this Saturday (20 June) to coincide with the Peoples' Assembly demonstration being held in London on the same day.

The protest is in response to the Tories’ proposals to make further cuts which include the proposal to scythe a staggering £12billion from Britain's welfare budget.

Organisations involved in the People's Assembly include the SNP Trade Union Group, the Labour Party Campaign for Socialism, the Radical Independence Campaign, the Communist Party, anti-racist grouping Hope not Hate, and the Scottish Trades Union Congress.

STUC deputy general secretary Dave Moxham said: "To coincide with the People's Assembly event being held in London on the same day, the STUC is throwing its weight behind this major event which will underline the widespread disgust at Tory plans to embed and deepen austerity, as ever targeting the most vulnerable."

This government has become more hated than Thatcher’s in the early 1980s - Vincent Steele

Some 2,700 people have confirmed they are attending the rally on Facebook with buses transporting people to the event from major towns and cities including Dundee and Aberdeen.

Chancellor George Osborne is expected to reveal new austerity measures in his next budget on 8 July.

Anti-austerity campaigner Vincent Steele said another five years of increasingly severe cuts won’t be tolerated in Scotland.

“We believe, and thousands of others do too, that this agenda against the poorest in society just won’t be able to be enforced in Scotland," he said.

“There is increasing opposition to Westminster policies north of the border and it is important to let the UK government know their wicked agenda against the most vulnerable will be subject to civil disobedience wherever possible.

“This government has become more hated than Thatcher’s in the early 1980s - there is now no appetite in Scotland for Westminster rule.

“So I say to everyone: whatever your political persuasion, if you didn’t vote Tory, unite with us against austerity.”

The event takes place in George Square at noon.