A crowd of around one thousand gathered outside Manchester Central this afternoon, commemorating the events of one hundred and ninety six years ago near to the very spot.
The names of those were read out in a solemn ceremony by names including the comedian John Thompson, writer Dave Haslam and the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Paul Murphy.
Salford born actor Christopher Eccleston and John Henshore read extracts from the speech that Henry Hunt was meant to give that day but never finished and Maxine Peake read from Shelley’s Masque of Anarchy which was inspired by the events of that day.
On 16th August 1819 in an event later given the name of Peterloo, over sixty thousand people gathered for a peaceful demonstration for electoral reform at St Peter’s fields.
At least five teen people were killed and over six hundred injured after Local magistrates, watching from a window near the field, panicked at the sight of the large crowd assembled and read the riot act, effectively ordering what little of the crowd could hear them to disperse.
The Yeoman’s guard, allegedly fuelled by drink charged with bayonets fixed into a field of those who had gathered that Monday morning to hear speakers call for parliamentary reform.
