The Art Newspaper: GARETH HARRIS

The Turner prize winner Jeremy Deller is moving ahead with his plans for a permanent memorial to the victims of the Peterloo Massacre in the heart of Manchester. The Art Newspaper understands that the artist’s designs, and the proposed location of the work marking the massacre bicentenary, will be unveiled at the end of October. His proposals will subsequently be put to a public consultation.

On 16 August 1819, cavalry charged into a crowd of around 60,000 people gathered at St Peter’s Field in Manchester who were listening to speakers debating the subject of parliamentary reform. The Manchester yeomanry, wielding sabres, attacked the crowd; fifteen people died and more than 650 were injured in the bloody aftermath. Historians say that the tragedy was a turning point in the history of democracy in the UK. …Read More

Pictured: The Peterloo Memorial campaigners outside Manchester City Hall in 2017 Courtesy of the Peterloo Memorial Campaign