As the bass dropped in Trafalgar Square last Saturday, the mood tipped from protest to party. A day that had begun as one of the largest anti-racism rallies London has seen in years – with organisers estimating a turnout of half a million – ended in dance music and defiant optimism.
“Trafalgar Square, who’s ready to make hope normal again?” shouted Green Party leader Zack Polanski over the booming music. This was the House Against Hate rave; on the stage, Polanski was flanked on one side by Hannah Spencer, the new Green MP for Gorton and Denton, and on the other, by a man clad in leather and hotpants, displaying an impressive range of hip motion.
“Who’s here for love, unity, solidarity?” Polanski shouted again to more cheers, before handing the microphone to Spencer, who led the crowd in a familiar chant of “Oggy, Oggy, Oggy, Oi, Oi, Oi”, to which she added a new battle cry: “Let’s defeat the millionaires!”
