Protesters took to the streets of Cardiff on Saturday and marched through the streets over the cost of living crisis.
Against the backdrop of storm Eunice, over 150 people gathered in the city centre in the first demonstration Cardiff has seen over soaring energy bills and living costs.
Cover image by Tom Davies, for full gallery see below.
People marched from the Betty Campbell statue near Central Station, along St Mary St and onto the offices of British Gas, demanding immediate price caps on energy bills and other costs of living.
A heavy police presence, with protesters being constantly filmed, eventually led to a stand-off when at one point, police refused to let people march on the road, leading to a sit down near the railway bridge at the end of St Mary St. .
In the end, protesters successfully pushed their way through and blocked traffic on their way to British Gas.
Addressing the crowd before the march, Adam Johannes of Cardiff People’s Assembly, the group who organised the march, said that “for many of us the next few months will be the hardest time of our lives. For the billionaire class, they are having the time of their lives.”
“They mystify us with words like, ‘Inflation’ that make it sound like the weather or act of God. But rents rise because landlords rise rents. Energy bills rise because energy companies rise prices. Shopping bills rise because supermarkets rise prices. There are a few people making a lot of money out of our misery & we have to defeat them.”
He said that government pretends to be powerless but they can act.
“They can introduce rent controls to drive down rents. They can introduce price controls to drive down energy bills.”
Becky Rickets, president of Wales National Union of Students, also spoke and said that students and young people were feeling the effects of the crisis acutely.
She said that applications for hardship funds for students were “through the roof.”
“Is it any wonder that mental health is the number one issue affecting our students today?” she asked.
“What makes this even better,” she said ironically, “is that the Welsh Government has said that there is nothing they can do for our Welsh students”
Also hitting out at the Tory Government in Westminster, she called on people to back a student strike on March 2nd.
Heledd Fychan, the Plaid Cymru MS for South Wales Central, spoke at the protest and told voice.wales about the impact the crisis is having.
“It’s already affecting people, people are using foodbanks, people are coming to me absolutely desperate,” she said. “They’re going into debt just so they can afford the basics.”
Asked how the profits of big energy firms such as Shell and BP can be taken and given to those in poverty, Ms Fychan said, “Well that’s why we’re here, the billionaires are getting richer and everyone else is getting poorer. We need policies from the UK government and Welsh Government that actually put money back into people’s pockets. If other governments are able to limit the cost of energy price rise, why is our government failing our people?.”
Also addressing the crowd was Beth Winter, Labour. “11 milion people in this country are using foodbanks,” she said. “We’ve had the £20 universal credit uplift cut. Earlier this month the UK Government pushed through a 4% real terms cut in social security and pension, and I was one of the few MP who broke the [Labour] whip and actually voted against that cut.”
She called for a united movement across different political parties, community groups and trade unions.
Other speakers at the protest included Wales TUC General Secretary Shavanah Taj, Rutendo from renters union Acorn and Hussein Said from Black Lives Matter Cardiff.
Trade unions who came in support with banners included UNISON Cymru Wales, Cardiff UCU, Unite Community
The question raised now is what next. Cardiff’s protest came a week after a series of protests over the issue on 12th February, including in London, Bangor, Manchester and Leeds.
A further day of action has been called on Saturday 5th March, which organisers hope will be bigger than the first round of protests.
In Cardiff, the protest will be held at the Shell Petrol station on Newport Road at 2.00pm, to highlight the fact that the major firm announced bumper profits as people faced a £700 hike in bills.
In France, the decision to make the energy firm EDF take a hit to their profits so bills could be capped at 4%, only came because the spectre of the militant ‘Yellow Vests’ street movement haunts the mind of President Emmanual Macron.
In order to force firms like Shell and BP to pay up, people may need to up the ante in Britain as well.
Full image gallery by Tom Davies, scroll for photos
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