About 7,000 people attended the rally organised by the Communication Workers Union in Manchester Cathedral, according to organisers, a number too great to fit inside the venue.
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The Labour leader’s visit to Manchester comes after tens of thousands of activists marched through the city centre to protest about Government policies on the conference’s opening day – including Oldham’s Labour Group, led by council leader Councillor Jim McMahon.
City police confirmed the activists’ worst fears, but insisted that the snipers had ben placed on the roofs “purely for observation” as they supported the security on the ground of the event.
Making a lengthy case for defending the “poor”, a phrase seldom used by Tory politicians, he said without “the retail staff, the cleaners, who get up in the small hours or work through the night because they have dreams for what their families can achieve” the London economy “would simply collapse”.
In a message on Twitter, Mr Corbyn stated: “Ahead of Tory Conference I urge…”
Meanwhile, many protesters are demanding the government deal with the refugee crisis in a more positive way and to help solve the Syrian crisis in a way that will benefit all parties.
Dozens of police officers, a few on horseback, were seeking to prevent any physical confrontations between the groups outside the Midland Hotel.
One protester was arrested after Huffington Post journalist Owen Bennett was spat at, with TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady labelling the behaviour “inexcusable”.
Singer Billy Bragg warmed up the growing crowd with a set on stage, changing the lyrics to his best-known songs to add topical references such as “take the money from Trident and spend it on the NHS” and “these Tory cuts will get me the sack”.
Filling the street, hanging banners over the Conference perimeter fence and standing on bollards to wave placards at smirking Tories beyond, this was definitely the most noisy demo yet.
The British Labour leader told the crowds he had a mandate to fight what he sees as severe government austerity.
The clashes came after Conservative delegates and journalists were spat at and subject to taunts of “Tory scum’ by a small minority of protestors as they entered the conference”. They are not the same thing. We believe in using capitalism to deliver social and economic progress and we do it in a One Nation way – by bringing people together’. “We have had no say, no vote”.
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But Mr Osborne said they had now been “completely abandoned” by Mr Corbyn, who was “heading off to the fringes of the left”.
