Thread by @docrussjackson

Tories go on about freedom, liberty, & 'the will of the people', then introduce the #PoliceBill.

In 1990, 200,000 joined a #PROTEST against the poll tax, leaving 113 people injured & 340 under arrest.

17 million REFUSED to pay, which DEFEATED IT, & got rid of Thatcher.

#FUCKEM

The poll tax riots were a series of riots in British towns & cities during protests against the draconian "poll tax", introduced by the @Conservatives under Thatcher. The largest protest was in central London on 31 March 1990, shortly before the tax was due to come into force.

In 1989 the All Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation was set up by the Militant tendency.

Other groups such as the 3D (Don't Register, Don't Pay, Don't Collect) network provided national coordination for anti-poll tax unions who were not aligned to particular political factions.

Three days before the event, organisers realised the march would be larger than 60,000 (the capacity of Trafalgar Square) & asked permission to divert the march to Hyde Park.

The request was denied on the basis that the policing had been arranged for Trafalgar Square.

At about 3 pm the march stopped in Whitehall. There was a carnival mood.

The police, worried about a surge towards the new security gates of Downing Street, blocked the top and bottom of Whitehall, & lined the pavement refusing to let people leave the road.

Additional police units were dispatched to man the Downing St barrier.

A section of the march stopped opposite Downing St, some of whom became aggravated by reportedly heavy-handed arrests, including one of a man in a wheelchair.

The protesters at the rear of the stationary group, being faced by mounted police seemingly preparing to charge, sat down on the road for safety.

They remained seated until physically dragged away & arrested.

The mounted police then charged the crowd.

Mounted riot police charged out of a side street into the crowd, which was interpreted by the crowd as a provocation, fueling anger in the Square where the police had already been pushing sections of crowd back into corners, leaving no way out except through the police.

At 4:30 pm, four shielded police riot vans drove into the crowd (a tactic in dealing with mass demonstrations at the time) attempting to force through to the entrance to Whitehall where police were re-grouping.

The crowd attacked the vans & rioting began to escalate.

By 4:30 pm police had closed the main Underground stations in the area and southern exits of Trafalgar Square, making it difficult for people to disperse.

Coaches had been parked south of the river, so many marchers tried to move south.

At this point, stewards were provoked, then withdrawn on police orders.

Sections of the crowd, including unemployed coal miners, climbed scaffolding & rained debris on the police below.

At 5 pm, builders' cabins below the scaffolding caught fire.

By 7pm, some demonstrators, now very angry & aggravated, were pushed into the wealthy shopping streets of West End, which suffered reported theft & vandalism.

Shop windows were broken, goods looted, and cars were overturned.

Police ordered pubs to close.

By midnight, at least 113 were injured, mostly members of the public, but also police officers; & 339 people had been arrested.

Scuffles between rioters & police continued until 3 am.

Eye witness accounts say many police were unnecessarily hostile throughout.

A 1991 police report concluded: "no evidence that the trouble was orchestrated by left-wing anarchist groups".

The Trafalgar Square Defendants Campaign was set up to support 491 defendants, acquitting many of them & suggesting the police had fabricated or inflated charges.

Thatcher was at a conference of the @Conservatives Party Council in Cheltenham; the poll tax was the focus of the conference—as coverage of the demonstrations unfolded, speculation developed for the first time about Thatcher's position as leader.

Vehement national opposition to the poll tax (especially strong in the north of England & Scotland) was the most important factor in its abolition.

An opinion poll conducted in 1990 indicated that 78% of the population opposed the tax.

It was replaced by the Council Tax.

When grotesque authoritarian Governments stop giving a shit about people, people push back.

The Tories have manufactured a transition to low-paid insecure work & the destruction of public services, all while the rich get richer.

And now they're banning protest?

#EnoughIsEnough

Danny Burns was secretary of the Avon Federation of anti-Poll Tax Unions, & a nonaligned member of the All-Britain Federation national committee.

Here's his account of the grassroots mass working class movement which defeated Thatcher's poll tax:

libcom.org/history/poll-t…

Here's the excellent documentary, aired & funded by @Channel4, 'The Battle of Trafalgar'.

It raised questions about public order policing, the independence & accountability of the media, & the right to demonstrate.

FUCK the draconian #PoliceBill

#GTTO

dailymotion.com/video/x2eg636

The combined cost of #Brexit & #coronavirus is THE EXACT AMOUNT that the wealth of Britain's richest 1,000 people has INCREASED by since 2009 - £480 BILLION.

The #PoliceBill is designed to protect the interests of a grotesquely wealthy corporate #elite.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1359445197113950208