The case to obtain a ban against homeless protest camps within Manchester city centre had to be adjourned this week due to the defendants finding out that they had been refused legal aid part way through the hearing.
Solicitors are taking direct action to oppose further cuts to legal aid fees by boycotting all criminal law work in magistrates’ courts and police stations. They have been forced into it by the drop in earnings caused by the cuts and by concerns over the quality of legal representation available as a result.
The third eviction attempt of the homeless protest camp was heard at Manchester Civil Justice Centre on Monday. The council sought an eviction order for the protest camps in St Ann’s Square and Castlefield and a district wide injunction banning all further homeless protest camps from the city centre.
A group of protestors held a picket outside the Chorlton branch of B&M on Saturday as part of a national day of action called by Boycott Workfare. Gathering at the entrance of the store, campaigners held banners, handed out leaflets and expressed their opposition to the company’s participation in the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) controversial workfare scheme.
Protesters gathered outside Manchester Central conference centre yesterday to express their anger at the government’s housing policy. While Tory housing minister Brandon Lewis was delivering the keynote speech at the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), campaigners warned of the ongoing disastrous impact of the bedroom tax and the deepening homelessness crisis.
Around 2000 people attended a rally in Piccadilly Gardens in protest against the Conservative government and their programme of austerity yesterday. As the crowd gathered in the afternoon sun to express their opposition to another five years of cuts and privatisation, the atmosphere remained optimistic, with a range of speakers and singers leading the demonstration.
The occupation of the University of Manchester’s Harold Hankins Building came to an end on Thursday after the students decided to leave. The protesters’ demands for free education and their fight against the marketisation of education resounded through the country in countless messages of solidarity.
