Protestors occupy Hackney Town Hall
Protestors unfurl a banner at Hackney Town Hall. Photo: Indymedia
Protestors briefly occupied Hackney Town Hall around lunchtime today following the controversial meeting last night at which the council’s new budget was passed.
The protestors staged a brief demonstration and unfurled a banner from the first floor above the main entrance to the building before leaving of their own accord following discussions with security staff.
The main council building on Mare Street was for a time closed to visitors following the incident.
The budget meeting on Wednesday night was the site of angry confrontation between protestors and councillors, as mutual criticisms flew both in the chamber and in the ether (via Twitter).
The protestors were demanding that Hackney Council refuse to incorporate central government funding cuts into their budget (a budget which largely makes up for the cuts by drawing on the council’s reserves and by increasing revenue through rent and charge hikes).
However, Mayor Jule Pipe and Labour councillors argued that passing a balanced budget was the right thing to do.
And this is what happened in the Council Chamber last night – http://politicaldynamite.com/2011/03/hackney-votes-for-cuts-a-sketch-from-the-gallery/
“Occupying the Town Hall” is a pretty strong way of describing a dozen people sauntering into a public meeting room and climbing onto a balcony. There was no impact to day-to-day business as far as I could see, and they ran away when the cops were called.
Their banner suggests that they are against both the cuts and the state- how does that work?
Wow… 12 people and a banner turn up one day after the actual meeting. That surely must be the start of a revolution in a borough of 200,000.
What a bunch of losers.