Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Spending cuts protest 'utter disgrace', says Haringey Council leader
This from the Haringey Indy:
Pandemonium broke out at a Haringey Council meeting last night when angry protesters stormed the civic centre in Wood Green and clashed with police in a spending cuts row.
Council leader Claire Kober branded the demonstration an "utter disgrace" after a council porter was knocked to her feet and a policewoman injured as the crowds clamoured to break into the council chamber.
She said: "I know the activists in Haringey and I don't think that some of the people here tonight are genuine residents, just a fringe group that came here to cause trouble and stop local people's voices from being heard.
"After what happened in Lewisham and Lambeth, we were expecting a turnout tonight and have been working with police all week to ensure what happened went smoothly. What has happened tonight is a council porter just doing her job was attacked and criminal damage. This is not my idea of democracy."
Three riot police and more than 20 officers were called to clear the chamber and the meeting went ahead nearly one-and-a-half hours later than planned.
Members of the public were banned from the meeting, available on webcast, and three deputations from Save Haringey Youth Centres, Haringey Youth Council and Haringey Alliance for Public Services.
The chaos followed a peaceful protest on the steps outside the building where hundreds of residents turned up to voice their concerns over the swingeing £34million public cuts the council approved last night over the coming year.
Long-serving councillor Sheila Peacock, speaking after being evacuated from the building, said: "In all my time, I have never seen anything like this. We've had flour chucked at us. Once, orange juice – but this is the first time we've ever had to leave the chamber.
"It just breaks my heart. Making these cuts goes against the grain of what it means to be a Labour politician. We would never have made these cuts under ordinary circumstances and feel that this anger should be directed at the coalition Government."
Youth workers, the elderly, the disabled and other voluntary groups had gathered on the steps ahead of the full council meeting scheduled to start at 7.30pm.
But as the meeting was about to start a small faction tried to force their way into the council chamber, instead of heading to the public gallery.
They were held back by Haringey police officers, who were eventually pushed out of the way. One female officer was heard screaming "please let me go" and was left in floods of tears.
Approximately 20 protesters made it into the chamber where they proceeded to write "no more cuts" on the wall, climbed on furniture and sat in the chair usually reserved for the mayor and the chief executive.
One woman, who police tried to restrain, was heard screaming: "You're all obsolete. I never voted for a single one of you."
After being evicted from the building, police formed a blockade outside to prevent members of the public from coming on.
You can see a webcast of the meeting here.
Pandemonium broke out at a Haringey Council meeting last night when angry protesters stormed the civic centre in Wood Green and clashed with police in a spending cuts row.
Council leader Claire Kober branded the demonstration an "utter disgrace" after a council porter was knocked to her feet and a policewoman injured as the crowds clamoured to break into the council chamber.
She said: "I know the activists in Haringey and I don't think that some of the people here tonight are genuine residents, just a fringe group that came here to cause trouble and stop local people's voices from being heard.
"After what happened in Lewisham and Lambeth, we were expecting a turnout tonight and have been working with police all week to ensure what happened went smoothly. What has happened tonight is a council porter just doing her job was attacked and criminal damage. This is not my idea of democracy."
Three riot police and more than 20 officers were called to clear the chamber and the meeting went ahead nearly one-and-a-half hours later than planned.
Members of the public were banned from the meeting, available on webcast, and three deputations from Save Haringey Youth Centres, Haringey Youth Council and Haringey Alliance for Public Services.
The chaos followed a peaceful protest on the steps outside the building where hundreds of residents turned up to voice their concerns over the swingeing £34million public cuts the council approved last night over the coming year.
Long-serving councillor Sheila Peacock, speaking after being evacuated from the building, said: "In all my time, I have never seen anything like this. We've had flour chucked at us. Once, orange juice – but this is the first time we've ever had to leave the chamber.
"It just breaks my heart. Making these cuts goes against the grain of what it means to be a Labour politician. We would never have made these cuts under ordinary circumstances and feel that this anger should be directed at the coalition Government."
Youth workers, the elderly, the disabled and other voluntary groups had gathered on the steps ahead of the full council meeting scheduled to start at 7.30pm.
But as the meeting was about to start a small faction tried to force their way into the council chamber, instead of heading to the public gallery.
They were held back by Haringey police officers, who were eventually pushed out of the way. One female officer was heard screaming "please let me go" and was left in floods of tears.
Approximately 20 protesters made it into the chamber where they proceeded to write "no more cuts" on the wall, climbed on furniture and sat in the chair usually reserved for the mayor and the chief executive.
One woman, who police tried to restrain, was heard screaming: "You're all obsolete. I never voted for a single one of you."
After being evicted from the building, police formed a blockade outside to prevent members of the public from coming on.
You can see a webcast of the meeting here.
Tags for Forum Posts: protest, public spending cuts
Replies are closed for this discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mr Growbag on
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John, may I ask how you've concluded the cuts are more due to Lib Dem and Conservative ideology than the purpose of cutting the deficit, given that Labour also planned significant public service cuts? If it is an ideology, seems to me it's one that's more widely shared than between the current governing parties.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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Didn't the LibDem ideology oppose severe cuts in the run-up to the election, until they sold their principles for a mess of pottage? It's difficult to keep up.
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Permalink Reply by alex on
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Not sure I understand this? As far as I've seen UKuncut have focused exclusively on corporate tax dodgers, what are you referring to?
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The footage in the video HoL has linked to clearly shows the police violently shoving people down stairs (from about 8 minutes in) with one older man pushed right over onto the floor, so I expect the police brought assault charges to cover up their own actions (a bit like when they tried to blame protestors after they killed Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests). Note some of these police were Territorial Support Group - they were the only 'outside agitators' there on the night.
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Permalink Reply by BBU on
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I don't understand why they weren't allowed to stand inside and chant slogans; did they get kicked out for trespassing? Ohh I forgot, Harringey is under a dictatorship.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon shows the many layers of truth of an event. (Apparently the film is out of copyright. It's available - in segments - on YouTube.)
Kurosawa told an interesting story about an incident after the shooting of the film which had a profound impact on him.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Just so we don't have two similar discussions running - best to continue here.
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