To Caxton House and Victoria Street today, where Disabled People Against Cuts blocked all traffic at the top of Victoria Street to protest at the government’s plans to close the Independent Living Fund. The ILF is a fund disabled people used to pay for the extra support they need to live independent lives. The government wants to close the fund. The government is not going to find that easy.
ILF recipient Kevin Caulfield fights to save the ILF and the police fight to save…Barclays
Last Saturday, disabled people occupied the grounds of Westminster Abbey to protest at the proposed closure of the ILF. That protest generated an extraordinarily large and unfriendly police response, and zero support from the good Christians of the Abbey. Today’s coppers seemed to have learned something from the bad publicity Saturday’s effort generated. The police sent to the Independent Living Fund tea party outside DWP HQ in Tothill Street today and then to Victoria Street when protestors blocked the road appeared to have done a bit more by way of affability training. Still, protestors blocked Victoria Street for long enough to make the point about the ILF again… and the police definitely wanted them gone:
The copper in the video above kept rattling on about the impact the protest was having on the traffic – an odd line to take, given that disrupting London traffic was the point of the exercise.
“What about the long term impact on me of not being able to leave my house and doing what you take for granted?” ILF recipient Sam Brackenbury asked him.
“I can’t do anything about that, me,” said the copper. “What I can do is ask yourselves to consider the impact on the traffic you’re causing.”
Long may that impact and disruption continue. Without the ILF, disabled people will not be able to afford the day-to-day support that allows them to leave their houses, go to work, socialise – everything that everyone else takes for granted. That’s why these Save ILF protests are so vital and why they’re gaining momentum. Saving the ILF is not just about saving a pot of money. It’s about saving the idea that disabled people deserve to live.
Protestors block the buses to Clapham:
A letter to government:
Protestors sitting on Victoria Street:
This shot is from Bob Ellard: the tailback of buses as Victoria Street is blocked:
