35,000 activists and union members march in UK

A rally of 35,000 demonstrators organized by Britain's Trades Union Congress marched peacefully in Manchester, UK on Sunday to protest the opening of the Conservative Party's annual conference.

A statement from the TUC had announced that it was "organising a march and rally to show opposition to the coalition government's disastrous policies of pay freezes, cuts and attacks on public services that are producing rising unemployment, cuts in living standards and stagnation." The march included both left-wing activists and members of public sector unions.

Several trade unions have called for a general strike on November 30. "If you never fight you lose every time," union leader Mark Serwotka told the crowd. "Now's the time to fight, now's the time to defeat the government."

Meanwhile, insider the Conservative Party conference, Britain's foreign secretary was blaming the country's economic problems on the previous Labour Party government and criticizing the current Labour leadership for being "too frightened" to tell the unions "it is not in the national interest for them to strike."

The following video is from Reuters, posted October 2, 2011.