Food bank protest staged outside British PM's office

Campaigners set up a food bank outside British Prime Minister Theresa May's Downing Street residence on Tuesday in a protest against austerity policies on the eve of a new national budget being announced. The demonstration by the People's Assembly Against Austerity group saw crates carrying tonnes of tins, milk cartons and fruit juices piled up on the street as campaigners urged the public to donate.
"The rich in this country are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer and poorer all the time," Tom Griffiths, one of the organisers, told AFP. "What we would like them to see is that austerity isn't working. They are talking about a strong economy but it's a strong economy for a very small privileged few," Griffiths said.
According to the Trussell Trust, which manages the vast majority of food banks in Britain, some 1.2 million emergency food packages were distributed during the 2016/2017 financial. That was 29 times higher than in the 2009/2010 financial year just before budget austerity was imposed by then new prime minister David Cameron.