Protest Outside Westminster City Hall & Mass Food Give Away!
March 11, 2011Thursday, April 14 · 5:00pm – 9:00pm
Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QP
Westminster Council have reacted with undisguised glee to the Housing Benefit changes which will see thousands of benefit claimants forced to leave the borough or face homelessness. On top of this they plan to make it a criminal offence to sleep on the street or hand out free food to the homeless in some parts of the borough.
As part of the third National Day of Protest Against Benefit Cuts we will be gathering outside Westminster City Hall on the 14th April at 5pm for a protest and mass free food give away.
Bring musical instruments, noise, banners, placards, leaflets and lots of food and say no to the economic cleansing of Central London.
Plans are afoot for other activities in London earlier in the day – keep an eye on the main facebook page or here for details, plus news on other events around the UK.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=186039361439862
National Day of Protest Against Benefit Cuts – Day 3
February 14, 2011The 3rd National Day of Protest Against Benefit Cuts has been called for April 14th 2011.
Millions are set to be affected by savage cuts to housing, disability, sickness and welfare benefits. People with disabilities, illness, the unemployed, single parents, carers the low waged, part time students, volunteers, homeless people and college students are all likely to see a devastating drop in disposable income with many slipping even further below the poverty line.
The poorest and most vulnerable are being asked to pay for the mistakes and extravagances of the richest. Meanwhile poverty pimps like Atos Origin and A4e are set to rake in hundreds of millions on government contracts to bully and intimidate people from claiming the pittance handed out in benefit payments. Many disabled people have threatened suicide if these cuts are allowed to continue. Some have tragically already carried out that threat.
The first two days of protest against benefit cuts have seen demonstrations, meetings, unemployed discos, public pantomimes and occupations in cities across the UK. Atos Origin have been forced to close offices, protesters have gathered inside and outside workfare sharks A4e and demonstrations have taken place from Downing Street to local town centres such as Lydney and Crawley.
This time we have two months to organise for the biggest day yet. We call on all claimants, as groups or individuals, to organise and take action around the country on April 14th.
If you are planning an event in your town or city please add details in the comments below to be added to this page and the facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=164277070288955
You can also send details to notowelfarecuts@yahoo.co.uk
If you would like to see action locally, set up a group, event page or ask below. We will do out best to promote and co-ordinate all activity.
We are fighting for our homes, our livelihoods, our very survival. It’s time to show these public school parasites and their poverty pimp collaborators we mean business.
Actions/events are being discussed and organised in Edinburgh, London, Birmingham and Nottingham so far.
UPDATE: First to call, the fine folk of Leeds
Thursday, April 14 · 10:30am – 2:00pm
Meeting @ Leeds Train Station 10am before moving to picket ATOS from 10:30 for an hour then move onto A4e/BEST for a couple of hours. The last picket was a great success and we hope to have another good day. Bring banners, flags etc.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=155593464493862&
Supported by:
o Black Triangle Anti-Defamation Campaign
o Brighton Benefits Campaign
o Cardiff’s Unemployed Daytime Disco
o Carer Watch
o Carer Watch fb page
o Crippen – Disabled Cartoonist
o Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
o Disabled People Against Cuts
o Dundee Unemployed Workers
o Free London Listings
o Goldsmiths in Occupation
o Haringey Solidarity Group
o Ipswich Unemployed Action
0 Islington Poverty Action
o Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group
o Lancaster and Morecambe Against the Cuts
o London Coalition Against Poverty (LCAP)o London Foodbank
o Mad Pride
o Medway Against Cuts
0 Mental Health Resistance Network
o Norfolk Community Action Group
o Nottingham Claimants’ Union
o Nuneaton Against Benefit Cuts
o Oxford Save Our Services
o Squattastic
o Tyneside Claimants Union
o Welfare Action Hackney
o Welfare Rights 4 u (UK)
o Work Programme & Flexible New Deal Scandal
o World Homeless Day
Housing Emergency Mass Lobby of Parliament 15th February
February 1, 2011
Atos Mobbed – Poverty Pimps Shut Down By Benefit Claimants
January 25, 2011
The Second National Day of Protest Against Benefit Cuts took place yesterday with events targeting poverty pimps like Atos Origin and A4e.
Over 100 disabled protesters and claimants gathered at Triton Square, London where a noisy mob made their way to the front doors of Atos’ shiny corporate headquarters despite the best efforts of police to stop them. Police formed a line protecting Atos whilst chants rang out of ‘Atos Kills’. Many people spoke out of their often heart-rending experiences at the hands of Atos’ medical testing which has repeatedly stripped sickness and disability benefits from the most vulnerable.
Anti-poverty and disability protest groups were well represented including Disabled People Against Cuts, Welfare Action Hackney, London Coalition Against Poverty, Mad Pride and many more. Also present were members of PCS Union’s Euston branch who work in Euston Tower which overlooked the protest and who expressed solidarity with claimants.
Over the top as ever, the police briefly kettled the protesters. After some time however people were able to leave if they agreed to be escorted from Triton Square, which lies on a privately owned business estate where protest is presumably not part of the corporate strategy.
One disabled protester valiantly attempted to breach the police line, but was bundled to the ground and dragged away to chants of ‘Let Him Go’. With cameras everywhere and no doubt fearing another Jody Mcintyre youtube sensation they complied and as far as we know there were no arrests on the day.
Speeches and chanting continued as well as one impassioned song whilst many people, who had brought food to share, laid out a picnic alongside the impromptu free shop that had also been established.
It is unclear whether Atos closed their offices, but certainly the only people going in or out for the afternoon appeared to be cops and private security guards. Also doing slow business were Virgin Health Clubs who found their main entrance inside the police lines and were therefore effectively closed for the afternoon. They might like to think about that at their next meeting cosying up to the Condems in the hope of stealing a slice of the NHS.
As the day wore on police melted away and around 20 protesters headed to the Atos Testing Centre and Jobcentre Plus administrative offices just up the road at Marylebone. Entering the, admittedly almost closed building, they briefly occupied the Atos waiting room leaving messages of their experiences of Atos stuck to the walls.
Protests also happened around the country. Atos testing centres were leafleted in Nottingham, Archway and Glasgow. The protest outside Atos’ Scotland offices, reportedly in the middle of nowhere, still drew around 40 people and an equal number of police who surrounded the building and once again protected the poverty pimps. Latest reports indicate heavy-handed policing but the good news is it appears Atos Scotland’s offices were closed for the day. It’s nice to see Atos Origin being the vulnerable ones for a change.
A protest held in Leeds outside Atos called by West Yorkshire Solidarity Federation and Yorkshire Black Triangle was successful in closing the Leeds branch of Atos’ corporate empire whilst a smaller, but successful protest in Burnley gathered significant local support. Protests were also held in Newcastle, Lydney, Birmingham, Crawley, Chesterfield, Hastings and possibly elsewhere, please send details to notowelfarecuts (at) yahoo.co.uk.
Earlier in the week the Cardiff Unemployed Disco drew a fine crowd and they’re holding another one on February 18th. It’s not over for Atos yet either as Brighton Benefits Campaign are holding an event this Saturday highlighting the pantomime which is the Work Capability Assessment.
Finally tories the length and breadth of the internet were well and truly trolled as part of the second National Troll A Tory Day. Comments were left, letters to MPs written, petitions signed and Atos were not left out as many took advantage of their recently published health advice phone-lines.
Benefit claimants have vowed to be back with a third National Day of Action to be announced soon. Atos Origin, the rest of the poverty pimps and the farcical Condem coalition should know that we are not going anywhere.
Pics of the London demo can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peteriches/with/5385496598/
Friday, 11 March 2011
National Day of Protest Against Welfare & Housing Benefit Cuts
Flickr - projectbrainsaver
www.flickr.com
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