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The Peterloo Massacre

Mathew from Lancashire looks into the Peterloo Massacre, which took place in Manchester almost 200 years ago. What began as a peaceful demonstration to improve parliamentary representation turned into a bloodbath as scores of men, women and children were killed or fatally injured. Mathew interviews a range of experts and examines archive material from the time to build a picture of why protesters took action, and what they achieved. Mathew visits the national archives in Kew and uncovers that the violence has a sinister explanation. Mathew discovers that despite the hardship and frustrations of the protesters, their sacrifices were not in vain. He concludes: ’…protesting helps the little man get his views across to the big people who run the country: ‘…it may take years, it may take a century or more, but there is always change after protest’.

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10 minutes

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