Labour’s hard-left leader Jeremy Corbyn has led a “NotOneDayMore / ToriesOut” rally outside Parliament, demanding the elected government is overthrown.
Protesters carrying banners and placards, many focusing on the Grenfell Tower disaster, sang an “Oh Jeremy Corbyn” chant as they marched through Oxford Circus and Regent Street towards Parliament Square on Saturday.
The protest comes after Labour lost the election with 55 fewer seats than the Conservatives. Marxist Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and gaff-prone Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott also spoke.
The event was organised by the People’s Assembly Against Austerity. In a statement on Facebook, the group said:
“The horrific events that followed the election at Grenfell Tower were avoidable. Privatisation, cut backs and illegal materials cost lives. Safety concerns were ignored. This is the most tragic example of what the consequences of austerity can be.
“The Election result represents a rejection of Tory policies. They know they have no mandate; already the Government has suggested they may have to ease their austerity plans because of huge opposition. We need to make sure the full force of that opposition is felt.
“If we continue to mobilise in huge numbers we can deepen the crisis for the Conservatives and force big concessions on the NHS, education, housing and jobs.
“There is already talk of another General Election in the next few months which would likely see the Tories lose further support and be unable to form a Government.”
Labour has been using the fallout of the Grenfell Tower disaster to agitate against the Tories and for private homes of the wealthy to be seized for weeks.
“Properties must be found, requisitioned if necessary, to make sure those residents do get rehoused locally,” Mr. Corbyn, who grew up in a nine-bedroom mansion, told Parliament on the 15 of June.
In the same week, Mr. McDonnell, who named Russian revolutionaries Lenin and Trotsky as his biggest influences, said Labour needed “every union mobilised” and for a million people to “get out on the streets”.
“We need people doing everything they can to ensure the election comes as early as possible,” the unabashed Marxist declared in a speech to the militant Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union.
Tory Monmouth MP David Davies, a former special police constable, questioned Mr. Corbyn’s commitment to democracy.
He told the Express: “It is very worrying that the Labour Party is led by a man who thinks the route to power is to bring people out on the streets and not through the ballot box.”
A Muslim woman holds a banner in support of Mohamed Morsi, the former Islamist Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt (Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London)
All photos: Rachel Megawhat / Breitbart London