LONDON: Hundreds of opponents of Margaret Thatcher filled London’s Trafalgar Square last evening for a rain-soaked celebration of the former British prime minister’s death earlier this week.
Former coal miners involved in the year-long strike against the Iron Lady’s government in the 1980s joined far-left activists and students to drink to the Iron Lady’s demise. An effigy of the former Conservative leader was carried through the crowd, complete with her trademark string of pearls, blouse and flowing hair made from orange plastic bags.
There was a strong police presence for the demonstration, an informal gathering organised on social media sites.
Among the crowd were ex-miners from the north of England, who saw their communities devastated in a wave of pit closures under Thatcher’s 11 years in power from 1979 to 1990. David Douglas, a retired miner who worked at Hatfield Colliery in Yorkshire, said he was “very pleased” at news of Thatcher’s death. AFP
