The flames of hatred: 30 years of loathing for Baroness Thatcher explodes in celebrations of her death. Will funeral now be targeted?
On a blazing street, bloodied youths mill around police with riot shields.
With such disgraceful scenes yesterday, the Left marked the passing of Baroness Thatcher.
Violence erupted at ‘death parties’ across the country. Six officers were injured in the early hours at the one pictured below, in Bristol.
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Macabre: Hundreds took to the streets as 'Thatcher death parties' were held late into the night across the country, organised by critics. A man is seen with a bleeding head in Bristol after a street party
Joyous: People in Liverpool were clearly happy with the death of Margaret Thatcher, as they took to the streets on Monday night, lights flares and setting off fireworks outside Lime Street Station
Aggression: In Brixton, south London, police grapple with a protestor as the celebrations became more heated. There were reports that bottles were thrown at police wearing helmets
Disappointing: A Democratic Unionist member of the Stormont assembly Jonathan Bell described parties organised in Derry and Belfast as 'disappointing and disgusting'
Young voices: Four girls hold banners reading 'Rejoice! Rejoice' during a celebration of the death of Baroness Thatcher in Brixton, south London
It raised security concerns about next week’s funeral, with increasing fears that militant groups, anti-austerity protesters or even dissident Irish Republicans might seek to disrupt the occasion.
One police source said senior officers had initially been ‘quite relaxed’ about the operation to protect Wednesday’s farewell to the former prime minister, but had hardened their view as disorder broke out.
The funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral now looks likely to present a security challenge unparalleled since the funerals of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 and Sir Winston Churchill in 1965.
In other developments:
The Queen announced she would attend the funeral, effectively elevating it to a state occasion;
Parliament prepared for today’s highly unusual recall from its Easter break to allow MPs to pay tribute;
Senior MPs called for Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands to be renamed Port Margaret and a statue to be erected in Trafalgar Square in her honour;
Lady Thatcher’s son Sir Mark and daughter Carol arrived in Britain to prepare for their mother’s farewell.
While many senior politicians on all sides acknowledged Lady Thatcher’s towering legacy, some of her old foes were unable to demonstrate respect for her in death.
Call out: Firecrews were called to tackle a series of bins which were set on fire by the mob and a police car was damaged by the flying missiles
Rowdy: Trouble flared after midnight when a boisterous 200-strong crowd refused police requests to disperse from Easton, Bristol
Prepared: Dozens of officers donned riot gear and used shields and batons as they were pelted with bottles, cans and rubbish
Sparks: Wheelie bins were set on fire by the mob and a police car was damaged by the flying missiles
Out to party: Some people drank champagne while others walked around in Thatcher masks and one man dressed up as the former PM
Attack: In Bristol, six officers were injured - one seriously - when violence flared at a gathering to celebrate the death of Margaret Thatcher
VIDEO Mobs clash with police during 'celebrations' in Bristol
Violent anti-Margaret Thatcher protesters injure police in...
Though he became the first Labour leader since Neil Kinnock to attend last year, a Labour spokesman said Mr Miliband would not be going to this year's Durham Miners' Gala. He would make decisions on future attendance 'on a year by year basis'.
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All polls Dave Hopper, general secretary of the Durham Miners’ Association, declared: ‘It’s a great day ... she did more damage to us than Hitler did.
‘We will have a hell of a time, we will have comedians on and bands and we are going to enjoy ourselves. There will be a lot of men wanting to have a drink and celebrate.’
Respect MP George Galloway, who prompted anger by tweeting ‘Tramp the dirt down’ after Lady Thatcher’s death, said he was refusing to take part in today’s Parliamentary tributes.
‘It is a series of tributes at public expense – vast public expense if everyone turns up,’ he said. ‘It is enough to make you sick.’
On social networking sites, there were calls to download the Wizard Of Oz song ‘Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead’ to try to propel it into the top 40 of the singles chart.
Stand off: The first of several planned 'Thatcher death parties' across the country began on Monday night with more than 200 revellers gathering in Brixton, south London
The Left's sick 'celebration' of Baroness Thatcher's death: Hundreds of people block the streets in Brixton, South London
Target: Foxtons estate agent on Brixton Road was targeted with paint bombs during the gathering
Outraged: Brixton Ritzy cinema was also a target for the demonstrators. The cinema tweeted: 'Some the protesters/revellers have climbed up on our redograph and written their own messages, this is not our doing people!'
Determined: Protesters climb on the the balcony at The Ritzy cinema in Brixton and change the letters to 'Margaret Thatcher's dead LOL'
VIDEO 'Margaret Thatcher's Dead' Cinema sign change as it happened
'Lol Thatcher's dead'. Cruel revellers change Brixton cinema sign
Ready for action: A police dog lunges at a protester, but he doesn't seem too perturbed and just smiles back
Surprisingly, a close friend of Lady Thatcher said she would have considered the insults and the street parties being organised to mark her death as a ‘remarkable tribute’.
Conor Burns revealed that months ago, the former prime minister expressed delight that stalls at the Trades Union Congress were selling ‘party packs’ for delegates who despised her to use when she passed away.
Mr Burns, who visited Lady Thatcher weekly, said: ‘I remember telling her about the TUC congress selling Thatcher death party packs.
‘She said the fact that they still felt so strongly about her more than 20 years after she left Downing Street was a tribute to the fact that she had done something in politics, rather than just been someone in politics.’
Demonstrations: Banners were held stating 'Rejoice Thatcher is dead' by drunken crowds
Casualty of the party: Barnardos charity shop was also targeted and had its window smashed
Watchful: Police wearing riot gear were called in as drunken crowds rejoiced, many of whom were too young to remember her as prime minister
Mr Burns, MP for Bournemouth West, said he too was ‘delighted’ that a noisy minority saw her death as a cause for celebration.
‘The hatred that burns in their hearts is actually an enormous tribute to her. They hate her because she won,’ he insisted.
Former defence secretary Liam Fox, a close friend of Lady Thatcher, said he was 'disgusted and ashamed of the reaction of some elements of the Left' to her death.
'Why do the Left have such a talent for hating?' he asked.
Tony Blair, who has been far more effusive in his praise for Lady Thatcher than other Labour figures, insisted the celebrations of her passing ‘were in poor taste’. Asked if he was worried about similar events being staged on his death, he said he was ‘pretty philosophical about it’.
A senior Labour source said Mr Miliband ‘categorically and unequivocally condemns any celebration of Lady Thatcher’s death’.
Party is over: The 'celebrations' ended at approximately 1:45am
Cause: Revellers danced the conga, drank champagne and chanted: 'Maggie, Maggie, Maggie ¿ Dead, Dead, Dead'
History: Brixton was the scene of intense rioting during her time as PM - it was blamed on deep social divisions, racial tensions and unemployment
Riot squads against the mob: From Brixton to Belfast, the orchestrated celebration of Lady Thatcher's death
News of Baroness Thatcher’s death was only minutes old when the Left’s internet hate machine swung into action, scenting a golden opportunity for mayhem.
Controversial: This banner was paraded on Monday night in Liverpool - during her time in power the Tories were seen as being indifferent to the industrial decline in Merseyside
First there were celebratory taunts on social networking sites, rapidly followed by instructions for street parties across the nation to mark the Iron Lady’s passing.
Within hours, crowds swilling beer and champagne were gathering to show their delight at the news with offensive chants and banners.
And inevitably, as the night wore on, the drunken revels spilled over into violence with the streets ablaze.
Six police officers were injured – one seriously – in one particularly nasty incident early yesterday. Troubled flared after midnight when a rowdy 200-strong crowd refused police requests to disperse from an inner-city area of Bristol.
In ugly scenes mirrored in cities across the country, dozens of officers put on riot gear and used shields and batons when the crowd refused their requests to disperse.
The mob pelted them with missiles, damaged a police car and set wheelie bins alight at the party in inner-city Easton.
Some of the injured police needed hospital treatment and one officer was detained for several hours with a neck injury. An advertisement for the street party read: ‘Let’s see the evil Tory off in style. May she never ever RIP.’
Details of the event were posted on the Bristol Indymedia website, which lists ‘10 reasons to hate Thatcher’, including her anti-trade unionism, employment policies, politics of individualism and approach to the Falklands.
VIDEO People took to streets in west Belfast following new of former PM's death
Margaret Thatcher's death appears to provoke Belfast street...
Delight: Revellers huddle in a circle in Falls Road, Belfast, on Monday night after news of her death
Public: Graffiti on the Falls Road in west Belfast. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has said Margaret Thatcher caused 'great hurt to the Irish and British people' during her time as Prime Minister
Announcement: A man makes his way past graffiti daubed on the Free Derry Corner in the Bogside area of Londonderry, northern Ireland
The air was thick with cannabis smoke as revellers – some drinking champagne and wearing Thatcher masks – chanted: ‘Maggie Thatcher, Maggie Thatcher, she’s not living any more. She’s not living any more.’
Response: The reaction to Baroness Thatcher's has split people across Britain
Unemployed Julian Styles, 58, who was made redundant from his factory job in 1984, said: ‘I’ve been waiting for that witch to die for 30 years.
‘Tonight is party time. I’m drinking one drink for every year I’ve been out of work.’
One man was arrested for violent disorder and it took police more than two hours to restore peace.
In Brixton, south London – scene of fierce riots in 1981 during Mrs Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister – more than 300 people began gathering on Monday afternoon chanting: ‘Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead.’ Among the crowds was Rahul Patel, 54, an IT worker carrying a banner proclaiming: ‘Rejoice Thatcher is dead’.
He said: ‘We are happy to be described as disrespectful. I am being disrespectful and I am glad of that. We are rejoicing, rejoicing her death.’
Emma Jones, 30, a teacher from south-west London, who had made a banner of Lady Thatcher with devil horns and blood dripping from her mouth, said: ‘There is still so much anger against her for so many reasons, which is why we are here today. It is symbolic.’
Ruth Cashman, 28, held a Unison banner as she drank from a champagne bottle.
The secretary for the trade union, asked whether celebrating Lady Thatcher’s death was distasteful, replied: ‘A huge number of people died under the Thatcher government, because of her general policies. She was more interested in profit than in the people.’
Happy: A woman drinks from a bottle and holds a front page of a newspaper displaying an image of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as she and others celebrate her death in Brixton, south London
Happy: In south London attendees were carrying banners, with one saying: 'Rejoice, Thatcher is dead'
Macabre celebrations: Champagne was flowing tonight as the Left took to the streets to celebrate the death of former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
At 11pm on Monday night two hooded men scaled the Ritzy Cinema and rearranged the letters advertising films to say ‘Margaret Thatchers dead.’
To cheers and applause, they later added the words ‘LOL’ – laugh out loud – and attached a sign reading: ‘The bitch is dead.’
Riot police were deployed when the mood became more aggressive, missiles were thrown and the crowds refused to let buses pass through the streets.
Two women, aged 20 and 21, were arrested inside a shop on suspicion of burglary, an estate agent was targeted with paint bombs and a Barnardo’s charity shop window smashed as celebrations turned sour.
People took to the streets in Liverpool, lighting flares and setting off fireworks outside Lime Street station.
Jolly affair: The hastily organsied party saw revellers holding signs reading 'Gotcha! Now get the rest'
Youth celebrations: A teenager wears a t-shirt displaying a celebratory message as other members of the public gather in George Square to mark the death of Baroness Margaret Thatcher
Dancing to the beat: They did an impromptu Highland Fling on the pavements of Glasgow - although it was condemned by the city council
Getting underway: As the party got underway revellers handed out party balloons to help the celebrations
In Leeds, revellers cheered and handed out ‘Maggie death cake’ at another street party.
In Glasgow, more than 300 gathered in George Square, scene of angry protests in 1989 at the introduction of the poll tax.
A chorus of ‘So long, the witch is dead,’ could be heard amidst the popping of champagne corks. Members of the Communist Party, Socialist Workers’ Party, International Socialist Group and Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation were prominent amongst the crowd, which had ignored calls from the city council to stay away.
In West Belfast, crowds gathered to drink and dance outside the Sinn Fein office in Lower Falls Road, where music was played and passing motorists sounded their horns in support.
Amid similar celebrations in Londonderry, petrol bombs and missiles were thrown at police but there were no reports of casualties.