UK: Thousands of off-duty police join anti-austerity protests (VIDEO)
A duty policeman (Below R) speaks with off-duty British police officers marching through central London, on May 10, 2012, in protest against proposed changes to their pay, conditions and staff numbers. Hundreds of thousands of British public sector workers were set to strike over pensions Thursday and police were due to protest against Prime Minister David Cameron’s austerity measures.
Around 32,000 police officers joined hundreds of thousands of public sector workers in protest marches in London on Thursday, protesting a government plan to decrease pensions, according to the BBC.
The British government said current pension schemes were unfair and unaffordable because people were living longer.
Union leaders estimated that 400,000 workers were on strike, while the government put the number taking part at 102,244, according to the BBC.
Reuters noted, "the sight of some 20,000 police officers in black caps marching through London will be particularly embarrassing for Cameron, whose center-right Conservatives pride themselves on being the party of law and order."
The main issues include deep cuts to police budgets and recommendations from a government-commissioned report that said firing officers should be allowed, in addition to pay cuts and a higher age for pensions.
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"I feel like the government has misled the public. It's nothing to do with making a leaner, more efficient police service," Anthony Coultate, a sergeant from Leeds, told Reuters.
The officers, reporting from all 43 forces across England and Wales, wore black baseball caps with the slogan "Cuts are criminal" as they marched, said The Telegraph.
Police Federation chairman Paul McKeever told the crowds, "If you are cutting our jobs, then you are cutting the service we can deliver and the public's safety is at risk."
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Nick Herbert, the minister in charge of policing, defended the reforms which the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are planning to go ahead with despite suffering heavy losses in the local council elections. Herbert told Sky News, "It's very important that tough decisions are taken to deal with the deficit and the police service, police officers, I'm afraid, can't be exempted from that. I really don't think that would be fair," according to Reuters.
According to The Telegraph, officers are banned from striking under law, but they passed by the Home Office, booing and leaving a sign which said, "Policing by consent, established 1829, dismantled without consent 2012."
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Here is a video report from The Telegraph:
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