While Theresa May was ‘dancing’, here’s what happened outside

Theresa May dancing with a DPAC protest
Steve Topple


As Theresa May was dancing around the stage at the Conservative Party conference, things were much more serious outside. Because disabled people were protesting about what the UN has called “grave” and “systematic” human rights violations on her party’s watch.

“Tory Cuts Kill”

Campaign group Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) staged a protest in Birmingham on Wednesday 3 October. The demo was supported by people on Twitter. They used the hashtags #ToryCutsKill and #HostileEnvironment. The protest was for what DPAC said were the:

thousands of disabled people [that] have been killed by the [Tories’] policies and mindless cruelty.

In short, people were raising awareness of what the UN has called a “human catastrophe”:

They ended up outside the conference:

People stopped the trams:

And they blocked the roads:

Meanwhile, on Twitter, people joined the demo using memes:

And as ‘Sarah’ pointed out, May dancing to ABBA wasn’t really funny:

A “human catastrophe”

The fact that the PM felt she could start her speech by strutting around to Dancing Queen shows her party’s arrogance. Because as The Canary has documented, disabled people have been subject to what the UN has called “grave” and “systematic” violations of their human rights. The chair of one UN committee even called the situation a “human catastrophe”.

Claimants of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) welfare have suffered numerous benefit cuts, the flawed Work Capability Assessment, and the closure of the Independent Living Fund. But most critically, thousands and thousands of people have died on the DWP’s watch.

A dancing clown

DPAC’s continued pressure on the government shows it will not silence disabled and sick people. And a ‘dancing clown’ posing as the PM won’t, either.

Get Involved!

– Support DPAC, fighting for disabled people’s rights.

Featured image via ITV News – YouTube and Martin Tolley – Twitter

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Steve Topple