Protesters gather in Dukinfield ahead of full council meeting

Campaigners from Fossil Free Greater Manchester and Tameside Palestine Solidarity group gathered at Dukinfield Town Hall yesterday (Tuesday 15th July).

Fossil Free Greater Manchester protesters are calling on the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) to divest from funding fossil fuel investment.

Deputy Prime Minister and Ashton-under-Lyne MP Angela Rayner, Stalybridge and Hyde MP Johnathan Reynolds and Gorton and Denton MP Andrew Gwynne are amongst other local MP’s who have signed the Fossil Free divestment pledge.

The pledge aims to make the GMPF fossil free within the next two years, immediately move all investments out of the most polluting fossil fuels and to develop a strategy to invest in local climate solutions in Greater Manchester.

Allan Challenger was one of the campaigners for Fossil Free: “We know from talking to councillors that most of the other boroughs have written to Tameside Council calling for a reduction in fossil fuel investment.

“And because Tameside Council control the pension fund effectively, they have got nowhere, so this is why we’ve now started to protest directly against the pension fund and against the council itself, because they invest something like £1.7 billion, and we want that money to be taken out of companies like Shell and Glencore.

“Most recently, we were disturbed to find out that they have again started to invest in coal, and coal is one of the most polluting of the fossil fuels in terms of its impact on our side of the atmosphere. We’re seeing increasingly extreme weather across the world and pension funds have an important part of play in reducing the amount of money they invest.”

Tameside’s Palestine solidarity group also gathered outside of Dukinfield Town Hall ahead of the council meeting.

One of the protesters, who wishes to remain anonymous, told us their aim of the demonstration: “We’re here today to try and put pressure on Tameside Council to divest from arms companies within the pension scheme, Tameside are absolutely pivotal in the Greater Manchester Pension board because they have 11 councillors of the board.

“A child is murdered every 45 minutes in Gaza at the moment. We are saying to Tameside Council to make a stand. We divested from tobacco virtually overnight, why cant we divest from companies that are involved in acquiring weapons to Israel during these most horrific times?”