France has suffered days of violent unrest with around 1,000 police officers injured.
France riots: Moment burning Limoges Town Hall steeple collapses
Zack Polanski’s party has encouraged Brits “inspired by protests in France” to march in London. France has suffered days of violent unrest after peaceful protests descended into chaos on Saturday, leaving 1,000 police officers injured, historical buildings burned down and shops looted.
On Sunday, the day after the violence erupted, the Hackney Greens shared an image encouraging inspired Brits to join a march against austerity in London, a day before John Healey’s Budget. Florence Schechter, the cabinet member for finance, resident services and digital, promoted the “March against Austerity”, to be held next Tuesday.
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.” The Hackney Greens shared the post.
Political opponents slammed the move as “careless” and “irresponsible” after such violence and unrest, according to The Times. In some of the worst widespread unrest in France’s modern history, looters dressed in black and wearing balaclavas took over cities across France, stealing shopkeepers’ entire stock and setting fire to vehicles and buildings, including the historic Limoges city hall.
Tear gas and stun grenades were fired at hundreds of people in Paris, according to the AFP news agency, and bottles and rocks were hurled at police.
The Greens urge Brits ‘inspired by French protests’ to march in UK city (Image: Getty)
Florence Schechter defended her post (Image: Getty)
Ms Schechter, who founded the world’s first Vagina Museum before her political career, defended the post as calls for peaceful protest.
She 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.”
Before looters took over the protests on Saturday, some 550,000 demonstrators had taken to the streets in a largely peaceful manner against rising fuel prices, the cost of living and deteriorating public services, including schools.
French President Emmanuel Macron said there must be a distinction between the “legitimate demands” of protesters and “those who destroyed, smashed and looted”.