More Than 1,000 Disabled People Protest Outside Downing Street Over ‘Vile And Cruel’ Benefit Cuts
Estimates suggest more than 1,000 disabled people and allies chanted outside the Downing Street gates or listened to speeches across the road, on the other side of Whitehall.
DNS sets out that: “The protest was organised by Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), Inclusion London and Stop the War Coalition, and supported by many other grassroots groups and unions, while other protests took place across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, with reports of 100 protesters in Newcastle, a similar number in Cardiff, and more than 100 in Norfolk.
DPAC said it may have been its largest and most successful protest ever.
But it was, DPAC said last night, “just the start of our fightback” against the “deadly and disgusting cuts”.
… John McDonnell, the former Labour shadow chancellor, who has supported DPAC for nearly 15 years and is currently sitting as a suspended Labour MP, told protesters: “It’s not austerity for the rich, it’s austerity for people living in poverty, for disabled people.”
He said the battle over PIP would “be won on the streets, like this”.
Disabled actor Cherylee Houston told DNS she was “angry and really upset and hurt” by the government’s cuts, which she said would lead to disabled people being left “prisoners in their own homes”.
She had said earlier: “PIP is used by many of us to stay in work and cover the extra costs that disability causes.
“My community is terrified that the government is taking away the most basic support that those most in need rely on.
“It makes no sense to take away the basic supports that enable disabled people to contribute to society.
“These cuts will trap more people in poverty.
“I am already hearing from friends that they fear they will no longer be able to work if these cuts go ahead.”
Natasha Hirst, president of the National Union of Journalists, and herself a disabled activist, told the protest: “These cuts will kill.”
She said: “These proposals will take away vital financial support from disabled people, without addressing the discrimination, abuse and exclusion that we experience in our daily lives.
“These cuts are a political choice, not a necessity. We expected this treatment under a Conservative government, but not from Labour.
“This is a vile and cruel attack on disabled people that will ultimately bring harm to everyone.”
“Linda Burnip, co-founder of DPAC, said before the protest: “Labour should be ashamed of their proposed cuts which will push disabled people into even greater poverty and destitution and cause many more to kill themselves.
“Disabled people will not allow themselves to be made scapegoats for Robber Reeves’ cuts while millionaires remain untouched by cuts.”
Source and for fuller report of the protest see: DPAC says ‘this is just the start’, after protest over ‘vile and cruel’ benefit cuts outside Downing Street.
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