Thousands Protest on Conservative Conference in Manchester

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Manchester, protesting amid the Conservative Party's Autumn conference.

As CRI's UK Correspondent Tu Yun reports, the demonstration¹ in Manchester is said to be a pre-cursor of a much larger nation-wide strike being planned for November.

 
"All workers, united! We'll never be defeated! Tory! Tory! Tory! Out! Out! Out!"

Around 35 thousand protesters, consisting of mainstream² public sector³ unions and workers, including fire fighters and teachers, are on the streets.

Among them is Mike Killian.

"We want an end to the vicious cuts and austerity measures being pushed through here in Britain and the rest of Europe. And in particular we want a government that would put up taxes on the rich and put up corporation taxes on big business rather than hit low wage workers and the benefits that go towards maintaining the social fabric⁴."

Since taking power in May of last year, Britain's Conservative-Liberal Democrat⁵ coalition⁶ has been cutting some 80 billion pounds in public spending to try to reduce its deficit⁷.

The austerity measures include pension cuts and consumption tax hikes, which have affected⁸ thousands of families.

Prime Minister David Cameron is now promising⁹ up to 200-thousand extra affordable¹⁰ homes and 400-thousand new jobs.

Despite this new promise, the demonstrators say they won't retreat until the government backs off on the cuts.

Otherwise, Killian says, they plan to stage another, larger strike at the end of next month.

"We'll probably have 3 or 3 and half million people on strike that day, the biggest strike in Britain since 1926. We'll continue with rolling programs on strikes in order to stop the government to tax. The coalition government is very weak and fragile. They argue amongst themselves. With a mass strike movement, we can probably cause the coalition government agreement to fall apart."

The Conservative conference lasts until Wednesday.

For CRI, I'm Tu Yun reporting from Manchester.

1 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

2 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

3 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

4 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

5 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

6 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

7 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

9 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

10 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。