Zack Polanski’s Green Party faces intense backlash after Hackney Greens urged activists ‘inspired’ by French riots to join an anti-austerity protest.
French protests have turned violent (Image: Getty)
Zack Polanski’s Green Party has urged people “inspired” by French riots to take part in protests in the UK. Chaos across France has seen buildings aflame and police attacked in the streets, with reports of mass looting as the European country struggles under a wave of civil unrest thought to be the worst in years.
Some 2,400 people have been detained and many injured after violent thugs attacked the police in France and even set fire to a civic building. But on Sunday, the Green Party in the UK encouraged Britons to take to the streets themselves. In a post shared online, the Hackney Green Party urged people inspired by the violent thuggery to join an anti-austerity march next week.
Hackney is a jewel in the Green Party crown after the council fell into their hands in the May local elections, and is widely touted as a flagship of the eco-socialist party.
Senior Green Florence Schechter, a cabinet member in the borough, urged activists to take to the streets.
The Times reports that she wrote: “Inspired by the protests in France? We have our own protest in the UK the day before the Autumn Budget is announced to tell our government what we think about austerity.”
That post was then shared by the Hackney Green Party on the social media platform Instagram.
Rivals of the Green Party accused her of being “careless” and “irresponsible”.
It is the latest scandal to hit the party after they passed a vote to declare Zionism as racism in a ballot branded antisemitic by every major UK party and Jewish community leaders earlier this month.
A Hackney Labour spokesperson said: “Peaceful protest is a fundamental democratic right. But it is deeply concerning that a sitting Hackney cabinet member invoked France in this context, given the violence and tensions seen there. Such comparisons risk inflaming fears and divisions rather than bringing communities together.
“We call on Councillor Schechter and Hackney Greens to clarify these careless comments, and remind those in positions of power that their words carry weight and can have real consequences.”
Responding to the criticism, Schechter said: “To speak to people who are inspired by protests is not an endorsement of violence. The media and political establishment consistently focus on respectability over people’s real pain and needs. This only causes people to feel unheard and unsupported.
“Austerity is not just a topic: people are dying as a result of governments’ decisions to cut spending and make our communities pay their debts, in France and here in the UK. Peaceful protest is an essential tool to make sure the government acts as urgently as we need it to.”
The anti-austerity march will take place despite the Government having refused to cut spending on welfare and benefits, leading to the highest tax burden since the end of World War 2.
Several left-wing groups are expected to take to the streets in the coming weeks. Some are being organised online with a social media account called “Wake Up UK” backing them.
One post online said: “Although our French cousins have pioneered the way for this amazing demonstration, we do not tolerate harm to innocent civilians, local businesses or property including cars.”