Campaign group Boycott Workfare has accused Salvation Army staff of taking aggressive action against protestors who made camp in the charity’s Elephant and Castle headquarters yesterday, while a Salvation Army spokesperson alleges protestors manhandled its employees.
Boycott Workfare is a campaign group protesting against organisations which are involved in government unpaid work experience schemes. It is staging a series of actions this week.
Yesterday, a group of protestors staged what they call a peaceful protest in Salvation Army’s Elephant and Castle offices. A spokeswoman told civilsociety.co.uk: “Our protest was incredibly peaceful but a security guard aggressively grabbed leaflets from us and tried to grab our camera.”
She added that the police were then called and the protestors were locked in the charity's offices. “The security guard wanted revenge,” she says. “So he accused one of us of assault.”
In response a Salvation Army spokeswoman said:
“We respect people’s right to express their point of view, but we were disappointed that protestors manhandled two of our reception staff and tried to force their way into the offices. We understand that the police said they were going to issue a street caution.”
Civilsociety.co.uk understands that no police action was taken.
In a YouTube video of the protest at the Salvation Army Elephant and Castle offices, protestors are seen singing. A security guard asks them to leave "peacefully", or he'll call the police, to which the protestors refuse. The security guard also asks protestors to stop filming and accuses a protestor of aggression when he refuses.
The Boycott Workfare spokeswoman added that it had also held protests in Salvation Army’s City of London offices and that staff were “very receptive”.
She said that protests against more charities will continue throughout the week.
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