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#ukuncut actions around the country mark 'Payday'

eatherich | 18.12.2010 12:13 | Public sector cuts | Social Struggles

Earlier today, flashmobbers staged a sleep-in at HSBC Covent Garden, to highlight the homelessness that could be avoided if the bank hadn't evaded an estimated £2Bn in tax. The action was part of a nationwide series of 'PayDay' protests against tax evading businesses, orchestrated under the banner of UKuncut. many protestors reported a positive reaction to the actions from shoppers and passers by.

Sleep-in in HSBC Covent Garden
Sleep-in in HSBC Covent Garden

Snowy protest in tunbridge wells
Snowy protest in tunbridge wells

Vodafone Brixton receives a call
Vodafone Brixton receives a call

This Vodafone store is not available - Oxford Street
This Vodafone store is not available - Oxford Street

We apologise for the interrupted service - Manchester Arndale
We apologise for the interrupted service - Manchester Arndale

BHS in Brighton appears to have joined the campaign
BHS in Brighton appears to have joined the campaign

Outside Boots in Sheffield
Outside Boots in Sheffield

Westmorland Centre security staff ripped a jacket in Kendal
Westmorland Centre security staff ripped a jacket in Kendal

Arrest of superglue santa in Brighton
Arrest of superglue santa in Brighton

Monaco tax dodgers grand prix - shut down all Oxford's main tax dodgers today...
Monaco tax dodgers grand prix - shut down all Oxford's main tax dodgers today...


In Truro Cornwall, a group of over 20 moved around tax-dodging stores, effectively closing Burton's, TopShop and Vodaphone, BHS and Evans where staff advised customers to step on or kick protestors on the way out. Police tried convincing people they needed their details because they were comitting civil trespass!

Around 30 protestors shut down Dorothy Perkins and Burtons in Tunbridge Wells before moving on to occupy TopShop.[Photos]

There was chaos in the TopShop Oxford Street shop where the sports bloc descended, playing egg and spoon races and blowing whistles while police attempted to drag them out, and a book bloc which linked tax evasion with library cuts. [Protestor's account]. 100 protestors later linked arms in BHS to prevent security from evicting them. In the afternoon, HSBC Oxford Street was the setting for a sit-down protest, along with Marks and Spencer whose CEO is a vocal supporter of the ConDems cuts. By mid afternoon the demo had moved to Tottenham Court Road, where protestors reported finding shops shut pre-emptively by the time the demo reached them.

Vodafone has been visited in many places including Manchester [video], Wrexham, Birmingham, Brixton, Durham, Cambridge and Glasgow, and closed in Oxford Street. The Newcastle store was already closed when protestors arrived.

This morning, Bristolians set off towards the stores, with one of them identifying the targets as 'Vodafone, Topshop, The Tax Dodging Capitalist World'. They managed to close a number of stores and promise even bigger demos in the new year.

In Edinburgh, police blocked all the entrances to TopShop after a flashmob of 30 people appeared in the store.

Local groups in Sheffield staged a play written by a local playright outside Boots.

In Kendal, Cumbria, anticuts protestors were violently ejected from the Westmoreland Shopping Centre by brutish thugs with a dislike for leaflets

In Brighton protestors met up at the clock-tower before moving off to BHS where a banner was unfurled from a canopy above the doors. Later the protest moved on to Dorothy Perkins, where Santa faced arrest after supergluing himself to the store. Police were later struggling to get the banner droppers off the roof of Churchill Square.

Oxford uncutters staged a 'Monaco tax dodgers grand prix' which saw the closure of BHS, TopShop, Boots, Barclays, Vodafone and Lloyds as they raced around the town.

eatherich

Additions

Cardiff topshop

18.12.2010 13:42


Approx 25 people protested greens greed on queeen st, cardiff

g


Comments

Hide the following 11 comments

You need a lot more than 20 to 30 people!

18.12.2010 12:28

You need a lot more than 20 to 30 people for these actions. After the last student demo about 200 people attacked TopShop at Oxford Circus smashing windows and looting stock! That is the way to do it!

Anarchist


^^^Agent Provocateur.

18.12.2010 15:05

this will only illicit the justificatin for a violent police response.

Anarchist too


Fantastic!

18.12.2010 15:28

Great to see people coordinating themselves against UK Tax Dodgers! Let's keep the protests peaceful.
What are the details about Barclays and Lloyds? I have accounts with each, wondering if I should switch to a non-tax dodger!

David Lucas
mail e-mail: Dave.John.Lucas@gmail.com
- Homepage: http://Davejohnlucas@wordpress.com


London coverage:

18.12.2010 16:41

UkUncut: Mass Direct Action Against Cuts
 http://london.indymedia.org/articles/6741

HSBC Occupied in #ukuncut action
 http://london.indymedia.org/articles/6745

shut 'em down


Hard Man mentality

18.12.2010 18:02

No-one has to smash things up at all. The police are so paranoid they shut the shop down for you anyway.

Some people here really do have a Hard Man Of Trumpton mentality, stop trying to manipulate people and impress the chicks and get with the majority. I met the protestors today and I was really impressed that they weren't the "usual suspects" - they were clean-cut, normal people just like me who have had enough.

People do not need "experts" like you to tell them how to protest. Now go back to your squat and prepare for irrelevance along with those other pastoes of the SWP. The people have spoken and you didn't get to shout them down for once. You don't represent anyone but yourselves.

anon


pics from newcastle

18.12.2010 19:36

Good day at newcastle approx 100 attended

john
mail e-mail: taycom99@btinternet.com


Glasgow

19.12.2010 01:33

Rab Maglinshie


Tax dodgers shut down again

19.12.2010 02:57

It was the last weekend before Christmas, the busiest shopping day of the year, the cash bells ringing, then came the snow. It was the last weekend before Christmas, UK Uncut had decided to target the tax dodgers, shut down as many retail stores as possible, then came the snow.

Severe weather warnings, trains not running, the airports closed, roads closed, the weather dominated the news programmes. Not a good day to shut down Vodafone, Topshop and other tax dodgers, or so I thought. Only the day before over 50 actions had been flagged up.

But I was pleased to say I was proved wrong. They came, they occupied. Across the country stores and banks were occupied and closed down.

Keith
- Homepage: http://keithpp.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/tax-dodgers-shut-down-again/


20-30 more than enough

19.12.2010 03:00

As we have seen with the actions across the country 20-30 people is more than enough to shut down a store and make the point.

Keith
- Homepage: http://keithpp.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/tax-dodgers-shut-down-again/


excellent stuff

19.12.2010 19:35

Excellent work dudes! Normally I'm quite skeptical about protests as they usually have no relevance to ordinary people's lives, but this one really hits the mark. The cuts are going to hit everyone except for the rich, we are basically subsidising a deeply corrupt business / government oligarchy, it's about time someone did something.

Keep up the good work!

anon