UVW Protest Topshop & John Lewis – Saturday sixteenth April 2016 was a busy day for me in London with a big march and rally by the Peoples Meeting Towards Austerity demanding an finish to privatisation of the NHS, safe properties for all, lease management and an finish to assaults on social housing, an finish to insecure jobs and the scrapping of the Commerce Union Invoice, tuition charges and the marketisation of training and smaller protests towards repression in Iran and Palestine, all of which you’ll examine on My London Diary.
March for Houses, Well being, Jobs, Schooling
Houses, Well being, Jobs, Schooling Rally
Dancing for Houses, Well being, Jobs, Schooling
Ahwazi protest towards Iranian repression
Palestine Prisoners Parade
In spite of everything that I went with the grass roots commerce union United Voices of the World on their protest towards Topshop, demanding the reinstatement of two employees there suspended by cleansing contractor Britannia for calling for the London Residing Wage of £9.40 for Topshop cleaners. The entire photos on this put up come from the UVW protests at first exterior Topshop on the Strand, after which on the Topshop at Oxford Circus.
On Strand the store was protected by safety however quickly a big group of police arrived and tried to maneuver the protesters away from the shop. The protesters refused to maneuver and police started pushing them round roughly, however quickly stopped, maybe as a result of they have been being photographed and filmed by a big group of press who like me had been on the Peoples Meeting rally.
Police pulled one protester to the facet and began to ask questions and a big crowd shaped round him; the person refused to reply police questions and finally the officer involved gave up.
There was a brief rally on the pavement exterior and Susanna, one of many two cleaners victimised by Britannia and Topshop spoke briefly however quickly broke down in tears. After a few minutes she began once more and was loudly applauded.
The protesters then marched off and I met them once more on Oxford Road exterior the flagship Topshop retailer near Oxford Circus.
A squad of police rushed to face in line to protect the primary door on Oxford Road and pushed the protesters away. After a short time the UVW protesters marched across the block to different entrances, the place police moved inside the shop to satisfy them.
The UVW moved again to Oxford Road to proceed the protest exterior the primary entrance, once more blocked by police. Class Conflict who have been supporting the UVW moved their banner as much as the police line and there was a standoff as the 2 teams eyed one another from a few ft away.
Class Conflict then produced some yellow ‘Crime Scene’ tape and stretched it throughout in entrance of the police line, which left some officers wanting slightly perplexed.
The protesters then marched off in direction of John Lewis, the place the UVW has lengthy been The protesters then marched off in direction of John Lewis, the place the UVW has lengthy been holding protests calling for the cleaners to be handled equally with different employees within the retailer.
They walked in direction of the doorways, however police pushed them again forcefully knocking one lady flying. Others rushed to assist her, and UVW Normal Secretary Petros Elia protested angrily on the officer who had pushed her.
Ultimately a senior officer got here to see what had occurred and listened to the criticism. To my shock he then requested the officer to apologise for utilizing extreme drive – one thing I’ve by no means identified to occur at a protest earlier than.
There have been just a few speeches to clarify to the consumers strolling by why the protest was going down. Clearly many who listened felt that the cleaners have been being shabbily handled by corporations like Topshop and John Lewis who use outsourcing to get work executed on a budget with situations which might be tremendously inferior to their straight employed employees.
The UVW left to return to proceed their protest at Topshop, however I left them at Oxford Circus to take the tube – I used to be already late for dinner.
Extra on My London Diary:
UVW Topshop & John Lewis Protest
UVW Topshop 2 protest – Strand
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London’s Industrial Heritage – London Pictures
All pictures on this web page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
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Tags: Class Conflict, cleaners, crime scene, Ian Bone, Iran, Jane Nicholl, John Lewis, London, London Residing Wage, march, Oxford Circus, Palestine, Individuals’s Meeting, peter Marshall, Petros Elia, police, protest, rally, Strand, Susanna, Topshop, Topshop 2, Topshop cleaners, commerce union, commerce union invoice, tuition charges, UVW, victimissation
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