Anti-governmental Protests in London Result in Clashes with Police

Protests in London (reuters.com)

People battled with the police in London and smashed windows as tens of thousands took it to streets in the capital’s centre on Saturday protesting against British governmental austerity cuts.

Groups of people dressed in black and with masks on their faces threw flares and smoke grenades at the headquarters of HSBC bank in the center of the capital.

According to Reuters, protestors who split from main rally threw paint at the police and little bulbs of ammonia, cracking windows at the McDonald’s restaurant, at a shop and a bank.

Clashes with the Police (reuters.com)

People rallied at the call of unions against public spending cuts, tax rises, unemployment and pension reform.

According to the union representatives, 250,000 people angry at the governmental policy answered their call in what is already considered the most significant rally in the capital of the United Kingdom since the protests against the war in Iraq, in 2003.

Around 4,500 police, wearing riot helmets, were rallying along with the union’s stewards.

The unions and the opposition are protesting against a plan of the Conservative-led coalition to implement a tough debt reduction program, by eliminating a budget deficit that is now 10 percent of the gross domestic product.

Those who protest think that this action of the coalition is going to bring misery to millions of Britons and an unemployment rate that has not been matched since 1994.

London was shook up last Fall by massive and violent student protests against tripling the student taxes as part of the same austerity program implemented by the government.11