Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 1, 1990 TAG: 9004010109
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LONDON LENGTH: Medium
It was among the worst riots in the heart of London in recent memory. At least 341 people were arrested, 58 police were hurt and at least 75 civilians were taken to hospitals, police said. Many of the injured were released after treatment.
The worst of the trouble was over four hours after it began, but sporadic vandalism and looting continued into the night. Some areas of the West End shopping and theater district looked like battlegrounds, and sirens and burglar alarms of vandalized stores blared up and down the streets.
For most of the afternoon protesters waved their placards peacefully in marches and at a rally in Trafalgar Square, denouncing the unpopular new so-called poll tax, which takes effect today.
It will be levied by local governments on every adult in a household and replaces a single household tax based on property values. Under the new system, a duke in a 100-room mansion will pay as much as a street sweeper in a cottage if they live in the same borough.
The tax has aroused anger throughout Britain and generated widespread hostility toward Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who said Saturday she had no intention of retiring.
Clashes with police, on foot and horseback, began about 3 p.m. near Thatcher's residence on Downing Street, off Whitehall, one of a half-dozen streets that lead off Trafalgar Square. The large plaza is in the heart of London, near Parliament, the Thames River and the theater district. Thatcher was not at Downing Street.
The trouble started when a breakaway group of several hundred militants began a protest on Whitehall, south of the square.
Police in riot gear joined 40 mounted officers to stem the violence, but at least one officer was knocked unconscious as protesters hit police lines with rocks from a nearby building site. Other officers and people in the crowd were hurt.
Police on horseback sealed off Whitehall so it could not be entered from the square, and demonstration organizers appealed to thousands of people watching the tense situation to disperse via the other side of the square.
They refused, and continued to chant and wave anti-poll tax banners.
As the trouble grew, a fire broke out at a seven-story building on Trafalgar Square, and police and a witness said it apparently was started by a protester. Smoke poured out above the building before firefighters put it out at about 7:30 p.m.
A group of about 60 young men ran along Regent Street, north of the square, hurling trash cans and newspaper racks through the windows of shops and arcades. Shop employees reported looting.
Other rioters moved along St. Martin's Lane, which leads north from the square, overturning cars near the English National Opera, burning several and breaking windows of restaurants and shops.
On Charing Cross Road, which also leads north out of the square, more cars were overturned and set afire, and big garbage containers outside restaurants were pushed over, spilling the contents into the street.
The trouble continued north to Leicester Square, the film, entertainment and theater center of the city - the busiest place in London on a Saturday evening. Subway stations in the area were closed.
At Trafalgar Square, mounted police, pelted with rocks and bottles, moved in to try to clear out demonstrators. At one point about 1,000 protesters, chanting "no poll tax!" gathered in front of The National Gallery on the north side, surrounded by mounted police in riot gear and police on foot.
"The police tried to crush us from both sides from Whitehall. People were in a panic. There were young children there and old people, but the horses were stepping on anybody," said a student who gave only her first name, Lara.
But Iain McCallum of Surrey said: "There is no doubt that the police were being provoked. There were guys throwing bottles and cans at them, shouting abuse. They just wanted to cause trouble."
When police forced the demonstrators out of the square's northwest exit, the mob surged up Haymarket, kicking in shop windows. A McDonald's was badly damaged. Theatergoers and tourists ran for cover as the mob used anything they could to smash windows.
David Meynell, police deputy assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, said the march by 40,000 was "completely overshadowed" by the violent actions of about 3,000 to 3,500 militants. He said he couldn't name the groups but that there were black flags flying, which indicated anarchists among the crowd.
Thatcher Saturday told cheering supporters in Cheltenham, about 100 miles northwest of London, that she had no intention of retiring despite growing criticism and her dramatic slump in popularity.
She told the Conservative Party faithful to keep fighting to win "a shining future" and said she was prepared to lead the battle. "I have the stomach for that fight. So do you - and so I believe does Britain."
by CNB