October 2010
Mad Pride protest against the coalition government’s “savage” welfare cuts.
What: The grassroots mental health group Mad Pride – which is closely linked to the new Mental Health Resistance Network – takes over Hyde Park Corner to burn a two-faced effigy of David Cameron and George Osborne and protest against the coalition government’s “savage” welfare cuts. One activist says government plans to force mental health service-users into work and cut their disability benefits are like “throwing a hand grenade into people’s lives”.
Why significant: One of the first protests about benefit cuts by Mad activists.
Citations
'You’d have to be Mad not to protest', Swinhoe, 2010
'‘Terrified’ survivors burn Osborne effigy in cuts protest', Disability News Service, 2010