‘It’s scary – things are escalating fast’: protesters fill UK streets to highlight climate crisis and cost of living
Lizzie and Dnieper are new to the protest scene. But the mounting economic crunch, cost of living crisis and climate emergency have galvanised the young family.
“It’s a little bit scary out there at the moment – things are escalating fast,” said Dnieper Cruz, 32. Turning to his daughter Lumi, almost three, the teacher added: “We just want a better future for her generation.”
His partner, solicitor Lizzie Manchester, 32, said: “It’s time for us as a family to make our voices heard.”
Around them the crowd was building rapidly outside King’s Cross station in central London, just one demonstration among at least 50 being held in towns and cities across the UK on Saturday for people to register their anger at the cost of living crisis. Organisers describe it as the largest wave of simultaneous protests seen in Britain for years.
From Eastbourne to Edinburgh, Hull to Hastings, thousands turned up at protests timed to coincide with the jump in gas and electricity unit prices that will prompt bills to soar. Social media showed large crowds at events in Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Belfast, among others.
In Glasgow thousands gathered on the Buchanan Galleries steps for a rally and chanted: “Tories, Tories, Tories! Out, out, out!” and “The workers, united, will never be defeated.”
Coordinated among multiple community organisations and trade unions to maximise their impact, Saturday’s protests were also staged against a backdrop of the biggest rail strike in Britain for decades.
At King’s Cross, however, the station’s vast forecourt was crammed with protestors. Among them was Jade Anderson, 25, who had travelled up from Somerset to make the point that “enough is enough I just hope enough people mobilise for them to
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