“Rise like lions after slumber. In unvanquishable number!” The famous lines were written by Percy Shelley in his poem The Masque of Anarchy in 1819 following the Peterloo Massacre. Tomorrow, Unison North West will march to St Peter’s Square in Manchester to commemorate the bicentenary of the famous march and the state-sanctioned butchery which followed.

On August 16 1819, more than 60,000 people assembled at a patch of empty ground known as St Peter’s Field. They gathered to protest against tyrants who held undue influence over their lives and did nothing to improve the standards of living for working people. We may see a similar scene here in Manchester on September 29 as we protest against Boris Johnson’s unelected Tory government.

Peterloo was a defining moment in British political history, paving the way in the long struggle for democratic representation of the disenfranchised working classes. Eighteen men, women and children were killed and over 650 were injured when cavalry brutally charged at pro-democracy protesters. It took place only a few generations ago. Much has changed since then but we have plenty still to fight for. Our civil liberties and democratic rights remain under threat today.