Conservative Party Conference: protests, travel disruption and a Metrolink stop closed

Well, this weekend looks busy.

The big headline is the Conservative Party Conference. Johnson, Gove, Patel and their mates will be setting forth the agenda for the party over the next year. There will be rubbing of shoulders and working the room galore, as long as you can afford the £600+ ticket.

So not only do we have ample security, road closure and parking restrictions to keep the bigwigs tucked away from the proles, there will be several protests happening throughout the weekend and into next week to contend with.

Oh yes and a little bit of football too.

The Conservative Party Conference is expected to attract thousands of delegates over the next few days. The main conference will be held in Manchester Central while the Midland Hotel is also a hub for delegates and events.

Greater Manchester Police's codename for the security surrounding the conference is Operation Protector. Planning for the operation usually begins six months before the event and considers a range of functions including firearms, roads policing, search, contingencies, media, communications, briefings, finance, intelligence, logistics and site build to name but a few.

GMP also work in partnership with the military, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and North West Ambulance Service, providing staff to advise on chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incident planning. Additionally, GMP has to plan for traffic management, security and street cleaning for the protests.

While the bulk of the conference takes place inside the conference centre and Midland Hotel, there will also be fringe events at several locations in the city centre, including the Friends' Meeting House and Manchester Art Gallery.

Local businesses can also hope to benefit on the traditionally quiet days of Monday and Tuesday as local officials wine and dine Conservative dignitaries. Andy Burnham caused a few raised eyebrows when he agreed to speak at a fringe event organised by Transport for the North, while Richard Leese is also taking part in fringe events. 

Multiple protest events planned

Meanwhile, on the streets, the People’s Assembly has called a national demonstration, with four days of festival-style events and a traditional march from Whitworth Park past the Manchester Central conference centre and Midland Hotel. The weekend will see a variety of panel discussions and performances featuring big names across the left, such as Jeremy Corbyn, Gary Younge, Maxine Peake and Shami Chakrabarti. 

The protest events combine theatre, comedy and informed debate, taking in subjects such as Kill The Bill, the climate crisis, jobs, trade unions and the social movements, fire and rehire, NHS and social care, education, housing, anti-war sentiment and nuclear disarmament.

The line-up opens with an "Unwelcome the Tories" ceremony followed by a National Drive 2 Survive Rally against the Police Bill in Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens at 1pm. 

On Sunday 3 October there will be a national demonstration from 12pm, where all different groups and movements are invited to come together to march in solidarity. Participants from CND protestors to NHS workers will march alongside a horse-drawn Traveller bloc. The crowds will assemble at Whitworth Park and are thought to start moving up Oxford Road at around 1pm. They will then go past the conference centre and then on to Castlefield Bowl for speeches.

Manchester Cladiators are hosting a hustings-style event on Sunday 3 October. Manchester MP Lucy Powell and TV personality George Clarke are all set to appear and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has been invited to speak.

Housing Minister Michael Gove has been invited to appear by the group, which was set up to protest the Government's handling of the cladding crisis. It is not yet known whether the MP will appear.

The Cladiators will gather in St Peter's Square at 11.30am and 1.30pm. The crowd will be addressed by David Walker the Bishop of Manchester on the human cost of the failure to address the problems caused by cladding.

The Manchester Cladiators represent the thousand of leaseholders across the region who live in buildings affected by dangerous cladding and are facing huge bills to make their homes safe to live in.

Post-weekend: Corbyn, nurses and WASPI women

Monday 4 October will see Jeremy Corbyn in conversation with actor Rob Delaney. He will then join Maxine Peake to discuss the media. Corbyn will also lead a candlelight vigil in the city centre for all the people "who have lost their lives due to the Tories, their austerity, their wealth before health response to the pandemic and everything else".

A group of WASPI women are also planning to hold a silent masked vigil on Monday from 10.30am at the Emmeline Pankhurst statue in St. Peter's Square. The group protests changes made to women's state pensions and are recognisable by their emblematic purple outfits.

Tuesday will see discussions about fair rent, nurses not nukes (hosted by the CND), taking the knee and education. In the evening, there will be events titled "Women will not be silenced – Rebel Women and The Importance of Protest", "Priti Patel vs The People" and a play about boxer Len Johnson called Knock Out Blow. Events are either held in a marquee in Piccadilly Gardens or in St Peter's Square. 

Protest the Tory Party Conference
March Sunday 3 October @ 12pm

Tory Party Conference is taking place in Manchester this year.

The People’s Assembly Against Austerity are organising a protest march against the Tories, supported by UNISON North West@before_profit pic.twitter.com/0wGpmhmSI7
— UCLan UNISON (@UclanUnison) September 27, 2021

Laura Pidcock, National Secretary for The People’s Assembly, said: “This is such an important moment for so many reasons. We are emerging from an intense public health crisis which we are still trying to navigate, and the effects of which are still being felt. Furlough is ending, Universal Credit is being cut, National Insurance is increasing. The NHS and social care sectors are under significant strain because of privatisation and funding cuts.   

"Meanwhile, the Government has set in motion seriously worrying legislation that will impact all working class people in the form of the Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Bill, the Elections Bill and the Nationality and Borders Bill. 

"They have an 80-seat majority, so what option do we have other than to oppose them and everything they stand for, in our communities and on the streets? We urge you to come to the National Demonstration at the Tory Party conference, to let them know they will be held to account, that opposition to them is growing - and that, while they hope and work for a divided working class, we will be uniting against them in our thousands.”

Visit thepeoplesassembly.org.uk for more information on protest events over the weekend and beyond. See below for more information regarding road closures or visit TfGM.com.

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