`They live in a bubble, read papers that bolster up what they think; they mix in circles where they all think the same...' Jan
It began last Friday with a huge Beats For The Streets party in Piccadilly Gardens, which was supposed to last twelve hours but carried on for two days, until the police confiscated equipment...hundreds of young people dancing all night and day, to show the be-suited Tories that the fun was nowhere near their Conference.
At Piccadilly train station on Saturday a flash mob greeted delegates with a huge sign reading `Tories Not Welcome Here Go Home', as pig sweets and £50 notes reading `Taken from the poor and given to the rich' were handed out. This preceded Sunday's massive march, when over 100,000 people demanded `No To Austerity; Yes To Workers' Rights'.
Kevin Courtney, Deputy General Secretary of the NUT, summed up the feeling during his street speech when he talked of "The joy of working class people standing up for their rights in a working class city that the Tories have come to; a city that's proud of its traditions and proud of the people who stood at Peterloo to defend working people..."
Other speakers, including Natalie Bennett, Charlotte Church, Owen Jones and Mark Steel later underlined the point at a jam packed Castlefield Arena, while comedians including Frankie Boyle, Francesca Martinez and Jeremy Hardy later `Laughed Them Out of Town'.
Monday was almost like a mad situationist film come to life as a huge protest by Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) saw multi-coloured balls of all descriptions being pelted at Tory delegates, including Boris Johnson, in a statement on discriminatory Government policies. While this was going off, students arrived carrying red burden boxes of their poverty, and collapsed near the side entrance to the Conference in a dramatic Debt-In.
Elsewhere, there was a bee handing out leaflets, a massive white No To 3rd Runway aeroplane weaving about and a giant Trojan Horse erected outside Manchester Town Hall to draw attention to the horror of TTIP. All this before the evening, when around eight thousand people gathered at Manchester Cathedral to hear Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn and others, talk about the post office. Whereas the Tories needed a ring of steel around their Conference, here there was no security needed at all. Which speaks volumes about who was really welcome in the city.
Tuesday saw the incredible NHS `wall of noise' protest, as hundreds of people marched through the city centre before deafening delegates with drumming, sirens, whistles and chanting to wake them up to the peril that the health service is in. The evening also saw a lively Refugees Welcome Here rally, following Theresa May's outburst.
And yesterday, as David Cameron was due to make his main speech to the Conference, the V.I.P. car entrance to the Conference Centre was blocked by Manchester Disabled People Against Cuts supporters chaining their wheelchairs together... "We're bearing the brunt of what his Government is doing" explained Ric from MDPAC "People are dying because of their policies..."
Finally in the afternoon, a lively anti-fracking protest told the Tories to `Frack Off' out of town, which they duly did...
Throughout the week, those demonstrating against the Conference were mostly local and were passionately concerned about Tory policies and their affect on them personally and on the wider society. Inside the hall, Jeremy Hunt, the richest member of the Government Cabinet was applauding tax credit cuts for the poor and urging low paid workers to `graft like staff in Chinese sweatshops', as the Daily Mirror put it. Nasty stuff.
Outside the hall there was almost a microcosm of a class war going off, with angry campaigners giving delegates an earful of their lives and, delegates dressed in smart suits and dresses, hurling abuse and smirking.
Salford Tory councillor, Iain Lindley, blew kisses and mocked disability cuts campaigners in a shameful, blatant display of arrogance, while the Salford Star photographer was assaulted with an umbrella and spat at by another Tory delegate.
Mild mannered Jan, from the People's Assembly, was outside the Conference Centre all week trying to engage delegates... "I did get abused" she says "Basically I was just holding my placard silently because I quite like doing silent stuff, it's actually quite effective, and a woman walked past me pointed and said `Disgraceful'. And then, when I didn't respond, she said `You're scum'; and then another guy came up and actually slapped this `Bank of Labour £50 note' on me, which is technically assault.
"The last couple of days I spent just trying to talk to some of them because I always want to find out what they've got to say - if they are all heartless, or whether just a bit deluded and don't know what it's like to live with nothing and stuff" she adds "My impression was that there was a mix. There were people who were died in the wool heard core rich Tory types, and some who were old school, who seemed decidedly uncomfortable, particularly with people who had been found fit for work and then dying weeks later. One or two were definitely not happy about that.
"I found it interesting" she explains "I was just trying to make them think about what is being done in their name basically cutting benefits for the most vulnerable - and they need to be reminded of that. They live in a bubble, read papers that bolster up what they think; they mix in circles where they all think the same, so in the end I was just trying to say to them `Have a think about what's going on, what your Party is doing...'"
Most people on the protests who the Salford Star spoke to were furious that the Tories had dared to come to Manchester, one of the cities most hard hit by Government attacks on people who have the least.
As delegates filed out of the Conference Centre for the final time yesterday, they were pointed in the direction of the city's must-see food banks and homeless camps, as they were serenaded to the tune of the Ugly Duckling... `Oink Oink! Get out!... Oink Oink! Get out of town!'...
It's fair to say that, after over 100,000 people marched and thousands more took part in the week's demo and events, an alternative conference for the people happened in the city. Manchester was, indeed, taken back from the Tories...
See also all the Salford Star coverage of the protests...
Conference protests begin with huge party in Piccadilly Gardens - click here
Tories Go Home message from Piccadilly Station flash mob - click here
Over 100,000 people march to oppose the Tories - click here
Protesters pelt Boris Johnson with balls as a statement on Tory policies - click here
Trojan Horse highlights TTIP policies - click here
Disabled People Against Cuts lay siege to Tory Conference - click here
Student Debt-In at Tory Party Conference - click here
The incredible NHS Not For Sale Wall of Noise - click here
Tory Conference V.I.P. entrance blocked by Manchester Disabled People Against Cuts protest - click here
Tories told to `Frack Off' as Conference closes - click here
* For hundreds of photos of all the protests see the Salford Star photo blog - click here
All photos by Steven Speed
For anyone who wants to know what happened inside the Conference hall see the You Tube comment on David Cameron's speech from the inimitable Artist Taxi Driver... click here
* A new Facebook group has also been launched - No More Manchester Conservative Conferences - click here