 PETERLOO SALFORD MARCH 18TH AUGUST
Following a Peterloo Now! march on Saturday 17th August, there's a March for Democracy march and rally on Sunday 18th August organised by Greater Manchester Trades Union Councils, with two Salford rallying points.
On 16 August 1819, a crowd of 60,000–80,000 peaceful pro-democracy and anti-poverty protesters gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation and bring forth democracy.
People came from all over Greater Manchester to St Peters Field, now St Peter's Square in the Centre of Manchester
An estimated 18 people, including four women and a child, died from sabre cuts and trampling. Nearly 700 men, women and children received extremely serious injuries. All in the name of liberty and freedom from poverty.
The Massacre occurred during a period of immense political tension and mass protests. Fewer than 2% of the population had the vote, and hunger was rife with the disastrous corn laws making bread unaffordable.
The key speaker was to be famed orator Henry Hunt, the platform consisted of a simple cart, located in the front of what's now the Manchester Central Conference Centre, and the space was filled with banners - REFORM, UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE, EQUAL REPRESENTATION and, touchingly, LOVE.
Many of the banner poles were topped with the red cap of liberty - a powerful symbol at the time. Local magistrates watching from a window near the field panicked at the sight of the assembly, and read the riot act, (in)effectively ordering what little of the crowd could hear them to disperse.
As 600 Hussars, several hundred infantrymen; an artillery unit with two six-pounder guns, 400 men of the Cheshire cavalry and 400 special constables waited in reserve, the local Yeomanry were given the task of arresting the speakers. The Yeomanry, led by Captain Hugh Birley and Major Thomas Trafford, were essentially a paramilitary force drawn from the ranks of the local mill and shop owners. On horseback, armed with sabres and clubs, many were familiar with, and had old scores to settle with, the leading protesters. (In one instance, spotting a reporter from the radical Manchester Observer, a Yeomanry officer called out "There's Saxton, damn him, run him through.")
Heading for the hustings, they charged when the crowd linked arms to try and stop the arrests, and proceeded to strike down banners and people with their swords. Rumours from the period have persistently stated the Yeomanry were drunk.
The panic was interpreted as the crowd attacking the yeomanry, and the Hussars (Led by Lieutenant Colonel Guy L'Estrange) were ordered in.
The term 'Peterloo', was intended to mock the soldiers who attacked unarmed civilians by echoing the term 'Waterloo' - the soldiers from that battle being seen by many as genuine heroes.
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Posted on August 23, 2019 by Tony Burke Power In A Union
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