Around 200 people attended a demonstration in Bristol city centre this evening, against the cuts announced today by the Tory-Liberal government.
Around 200 people attended a demonstration in Bristol city centre this evening, against the cuts announced today by the Tory-Liberal government.

The protesters ranged from school and university students, to trade union activists and concerned citizens. Their message was clear - they should not be punished for the greed of the bankers who caused the crisis. They were keen to press home the idea that there is an alternative to cuts. Some protesters expressed anger at the pro-cuts propaganda of the corporate media.

The banners used pushed this point home, the hand written school student banners reading, "Eton Boys Steal Our Future", "Defend Education, Tax the Rich" and "Students and Workers Unite and Fight". Union banners argued the value of public service over private profit.

Having distributed leaflets to passers-by at Broad Quay, the protesters left in good spirits to march on the Lloyds building on the harbour side, highlighting the culpability of the banks in the crisis. Some protesters attempted to enter the building but security guards locked the inner doors leaving the protesters to express their angry in the porch area. After some time chanting that bankers, not workers, should pay for the crisis, the march moved back to Broad Quay to listen to speeches.

Speaker after speaker, representing the anti-cuts alliance, trade unions and other activists, explained that there are other options, that we don't need to accept the rationale of crushing the least well off. They reminded the enthusiastic crowd of the unfair implications of the cuts agenda, hitting students, the poor, the infirm, the elderly and those most in need. They also stressed the importance of building the resistance movement across the country.

The next anti-cuts demo in Bristol will take place on 23rd October, assembling at 11am in Castle Park, marching to College Green.