workingclasshistory:

On this day, 31 March 1990, the poll tax riots broke out in Trafalgar Square, London, after police attacked 200,000 people demonstrating against an extremely unpopular and highly regressive tax introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government.
Police launched a violent assault on peaceful demonstrators, including rapidly driving police vans through the crowd. But this backfired severely when the crowd defended itself, pushed back the police, then went on the offensive, destroying property and expropriating goods from stores (looting). South Africa House, the diplomatic outpost of the apartheid regime, was set on fire.
One participant recalled: “The most important thing for me was the way people were prepared to face the riot police. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was incredible to see people running in to pull others out when they were being arrested… The next thing that sticks in my mind was seeing the ordinary pigs in full flight down Whitehall, and the roar of the crowd chasing them… The noise was brilliant, the bravery of people on my side was enough to convince me that we are not so helpless after all.”
Police arrested more than 300 people on the day, with around 150 subsequent arrests. Meanwhile leading left establishment figures denounced the rioters promised to “name names” and “root out the trouble-makers”. But the riot helped spur more widespread opposition to the tax, introduced in England the following week, and was eventually defeated by a mass non-payment campaign.
Learn more in our TikTok video about the movement, and give us a follow: https://www.tiktok.com/@workingclasshistory/video/7072745446338202886 https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1953982411453566/?type=3