Britons celebrate death of ex-PM Thatcher during her funeral

British protesters held a big gathering outside the House of Commons as former prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s funeral procession got underway in central London on Wednesday.

Many anti-Thatcher protesters voiced their anger that £10million of public money is being spent on the late premier’s funeral, while others turned their back on the coffin during the procession to St Paul’s Cathedral.

The protesters chanted “scum” and shouted obscene remarks as Maggie’s coffin passed them with the full state-organized military procession. Others shouted “what a waste of money” and booed as the procession passed London’s Ludgate Circus.

More than 4,000 police officers were on duty to make sure the funeral passed off peacefully, but rows broke out between supporters of Lady Thatcher and demonstrators outside the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand.

A pensioner called Phil Williams was holding a banner saying “Rest in Shame”.

“Sorry, but it needs saying, they’re burying an old woman,” said the 58-year-old former power station worker from Shotton in Flintshire.

“No one’s ever heard of Shotton apart from the fact that they lost 8,000 jobs when the steelworks closed in the early 80s”, he added.

“Look at what she did to the North, steel works, mining, the poll tax. She trialled all these things in the North and made criminals out of a million people. I have no regard for the woman.”

Protester Charmain Kenner, 58, had her back turned as Lady Thatcher’s coffin went past Trafalgar Square in the hearse.

“Thatcher’s policies were all about individualistic materialism. She created a much greater divide between rich and poor, she ruined many communities and many industries”, she said.

“Basically, she ruined this country and, to add insult to injury, we’re expected to pay for her funeral.”

A protester who gave her name only as Helen stood outside St Paul’s during the funeral service, wearing a mask of Lady Thatcher’s face.

“It would be lovely if other pensioners could spend their last days in luxury at the Ritz,” she said.

“I don’t really care about Thatcher’s death. She obviously didn’t really care about the poor or elderly, or those with dementia when she was prime minister.

“I think it’s really scandalous that we’ve spent all this money and time on her funeral. It just adds insult to injury”, the protester added.

In Durham, dozens of ex-miners arrived at a club in Easington Colliery, with many of them saying they were there to celebrate Baroness Thatcher’s death.

Dave Douglass, who worked at Doncaster coalfield for 35 years, said he was there to mourn her birth.

“She wanted to smash the union and sell off whatever was profitable,” he said.

“I’m here to mourn her birth as she represents the system that we are all still suffering under.
“I’m also here to commemorate the loss of this pit and every pit in Great Britain.

“If people say it’s in bad taste to do this, I would say it was in bad taste when miners were killed on the picket lines.

“I have been watching so much psychotic drivel on the news this morning talking about the names of each horse in the funeral. It’s the kind of stage-managed stuff we see in North Korea.”

Thatcher was seen as a particularly divisive politician by many on Merseyside due to her attack on the unions which affected thousands of dockers and her perceived lack of interest in the city’s problems in the wake of the 1981 Toxteth riots.

Landlord Jim McMahon, a former miner, decked out his pub in Union Flag bunting for a celebration of Lady Thatcher’s death in an area where the mining industry was decimated during the years of her reign.