The Riot in Trafalgar Square, 13 November 1887 (engraving)

The Riot in Trafalgar Square. Illustration for The Graphic, 19 November 1887. The Long Depression, starting in 1873 and lasting almost to the end of the century, created difficult social conditions in Britain. By November 1887, unemployed workers' demonstrations from the East End of London had been building up for more than two years. Trafalgar Square was seen as the point at which working-class East End met upper-class West End of London, a focus of class struggle. 30,000 persons, encircled Trafalgar Square as at least 10,000 protesters marched in from several different directions, led by (among others) Elizabeth Reynolds, John Burns, William Morris, Annie Besant and Robert Cunninghame-Graham, who were primarily leaders of the Social Democratic Federation. Also marching was the Fabian playwright George Bernard Shaw. 2000 police and 400 troops.