Russell Brand shows up for pro-Syriza demonstration in Trafalgar Square

 
Revolution: Russell Brand was among those to attend the pro-Syriza demo (Picture: Twitter/@stefivos)
Standard Reporter15 February 2015

Russell Brand joined hundreds in Trafalgar Square this afternoon for a rally in support of Greece's new left-wing government.

Politicians, trade union leaders and other activists were among those who spoke in support of Syriza, which swept to power last month with a pledge to fight the EU's austerity policies.

Brand, whose book Revolution calls for a global uprising, did not speak but was pictured talking to demonstrators at the event, part of a wave of solidarity rallies and protests across Europe this weekend.

It was organised by the Greece Solidarity Campaign, Syriza London and other organisations including Left Unity.

Christos Giovanopoulos, an activist from Greek group Solidarity for All, told the crowd that the win for Alexis Tsipras' party had allowed Greece to escape a "regime of austerity and social barbarism".

Rally: Hundreds showed up for the demo, one of many across Europe (Picture: peoplebeforeprofit.org.uk)

"We understand that whatever happens in Greece depends not only on the Greek people, if we want to be successful we have to build an international movement and we have to bring the insurgency and the overthrow of the system everywhere," he said.

"We should do our best altogether to not allow the capitalists of Europe to unite against Greece, we should do altogether whatever it takes in order to give, to spread, the contamination of the revolt everywhere."

Billy Hayes, the general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), who was representing the Trades Union Congress, added: "The TUC both in this country and internationally, has said this: the international financial institutions and European authorities need to respect the voice of the Greek people."

David Cameron last week warned that the stalemate between Athens and the eurozone over Greece's debts needs to be resolved to prevent damage to the British economy.

After meeting Mr Tsipras at a Council of Europe meeting in Brussels on Friday, Mr Cameron warned the longer the stand-off continued the worse it would be for the continent.

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