Remainers brandishing a Boris Johnson blimp and anti-austerity protesters descend on Manchester city centre to demonstrate outside the Conservative Party conference
- People’s Assembly Against Austerity and the Reject Brexit, Defend Our Democracy marches are taking place
- Police are expecting to see tens of thousands on the streets today protesting the Conservatives
- Many demonstrators are calling for ‘Tories Out’ while Momentum marched behind a figure of Karl Marx
Thousands of Remainer and anti-austerity protesters have descended on Manchester city centre today where the Conservative party conference is taking place.
The People’s Assembly Against Austerity and the Reject Brexit, Defend Our Democracy march are both holding rallies in the city.
A Boris Johnson blimp also accompanied protesters on the march, reminiscent of the much-publicised Donald Trump balloon on his visit to the UK.
The six-metre tall inflatable depicted the Prime Minister dressed in blue shorts with red hearts and the word ‘Nigel’ on, and a T-shirt showing a £350 million bus.
A Boris blimp is inflated at Castlefield Bowl, Manchester as part of the Reject Brexit defend our democracy protest in Manchester today
A protester holds a banner during a demonstration against the Conservative Party held by the People’s Assembly Against Austerity
People march behind a banner which reads, ‘No more austerity, we demand the alternative’ and ‘no more cuts’, led by Labour MP Angela Rayner
Momentum Manchester, who landed themselves in hot water this morning for praising a threatening banner about the Tories, marched behind a large figure of Karl Marx
The austerity demo is campaigning against the policy they view as ‘the most destructive force in Britain today’.
Speakers will include TUC general secretary Francis O’Grady, actress Julie Hesmondhalgh, and Ashton-under-Lyne’s Labour MP Angela Rayner.
The People’s Assembly is also holding a series of events in Piccadilly Gardens.
Talks will take place on a variety of issues – including the climate crisis, the NHS, welfare and housing.
Thousands of demonstrators are expected to join the Reject Brexit, Defend Our Democracy march, which is also taking place today.
A demonstrator carries a banner bearing a spider similar to the broach Lady Hale the president of the supreme court wore when she delivered the court’s verdict on the government’s prorogation of parliament
At a pro-EU demonstration against the Conservative party, a protester carries a placard with a picture of Boris Johnson behind bars with the slogan, ‘Never ever trust a Tory’
Marchers banged drums, blew whistles and chanted ‘Tories out’ and ‘Boris Johnson, shame on you’ as they made their way through the city, pausing as they passed near Manchester Central, where the conference is being held.
Roads through the city were closed by police as the march took place and mounted officers led the demonstrators.
Chief Superintendent Wasim Chaudhry, of Greater Manchester Police, said tens of thousands are expected to attend the two rallies, as in past years when the Tories have held their conference in Manchester.
In Salford this morning, a sickening banner threatening to ‘level the playing field’ after ‘130,000 deaths’ under Conservative rule was unveiled on a bridge, with effigies hanging below it.
A photograph of the banner and the two hanging dummies was tweeted about by Manchester Momentum who said: ‘Good morning Conservatives, welcome to Manchester.’
A sickening banner with effigies hanging below ahead of the Conservative party conference in Salford has been widely condemned
Manchester Momentum tweeted out an image of the banner and effigies and said: ‘Good morning Conservatives, welcome to Manchester’. The stunt has been widely condemned as ‘vile’
In scenes reminiscent of the Channel 4 adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the message says: ‘130,000 killed under Tory rule, time to level the playing field.’
The figure refers to an estimate by a think tank which claims the Conservative policy of austerity resulted in the deaths of 130,000 people, but this is disputed.
Neither Momentum nor anyone else has yet claimed responsibility for the sick stunt.
A Conservative councillor was also caught on camera today after he snatched two EU flags from Remain protesters outside the party conference in Manchester.
Sam Smith, 22, who is Britain’s youngest Tory branch chairman, stole and ‘destroyed’ the flags from anti-Brexit demonstrators outside the Midland hotel in Manchester
Sam Smith, 22, who is Britain’s youngest Tory branch chairman, stole and ‘destroyed’ the flags from anti-Brexit demonstrators outside the Midland hotel.
In the video, spotted by the Gedling Eye, a protester named Elspeth walks behind the councillor as he strolls away with an EU flag in his hand.
When he turns, the camerawoman says ‘got you’, to which Mr Smith replies: ‘No, no, no we’ve got you actually. We don’t want the EU’.
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