Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 9, 1990                   TAG: 9003092397
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LONDON                                 LENGTH: Medium

DOZENS ARE ARRESTED, INJURED DURING TAX REVOLT IN ENGLAND

The fourth straight night of violence Thursday follows a decision by Thatcher's Conservative government to finance local services with a tax on each adult instead of on the value of each household.

Critics say the new tax is unfair, and anger over it has sent the Conservatives' popularity plunging to its lowest level in its decade of rule.

Under the new tax, which goes into effect April 1 in England and Wales, the average household paying about $830 a year under the existing rates will pay about $1,100, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants says.

The Labor Party and other opponents have dubbed it the poll tax, after a similar per capita tax that sparked rebellion in medieval times.

The worst violence since demonstrations began Monday occurred Thursday night at Hackney in east London when 5,000 protesters gathered outside city hall.

About 300 police guarding the building charged the crowd after members of it began hurling bottles and cans and attacked a police car. Police said they made 57 arrests. They said about 30 officers and an unspecified number of protesters were injured.

Police Commander John Purnell said about 200 people broke away from the main crowd and rampaged through a Hackney shopping mall, hurling trash cans through windows and looting up to 50 stores.

Protesters at Hackney carried placards reading "Break the Tory poll tax," "Smash poll tax" and "Can't pay won't pay."

At Camden in north London, protesters at City Hall screamed insults at council members as 400 others blocked the road outside. At Ealing in west London, a crowd of 400 jeered councilmen and women arriving for a meeting.

At Swindon, 70 miles, west of London, police linked arms to form a human chain to stop 1,000 protesters forcing their way into the council chamber. People in the crowd there carried effigies of Thatcher with a noose round her neck and set one of them on fire to loud cheers.

At Hull in northeast England, security men ejected 50 demonstrators who screamed abuse at council members. Protesters at Dudley in central England threw eggs at council members.

Thatcher and Labor leader Neil Kinnock on Thursday both condemned the violence.

Low-income and disabled people can receive rebates of up to 80 percent. But critics say that apart from this, the new tax is unfair because unlike income tax that funds national government expenditure, or to an extent the rates it replaces, it takes no account of an individual's ability to pay.