Britain grapples with Thatcher legacy as clashes erupt

Britain wrestled on Tuesday with violent passions ignited by the death of divisive former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, with critics of the “Iron Lady” clashing with police and supporters preparing to pay tribute to her in parliament.

World reaction was also divided with Pope Francis hailing her promotion of freedom but people in the pontiff’s homeland Argentina condemning Thatcher as a warmonger who prolonged the 1982 Falklands war for political ends.

Thatcher’s body was removed early on Tuesday from the Ritz Hotel in London, where the first female leader of a Western democracy died aged 87, ahead of a ceremonial funeral that is expected to take place next week.

But Thatcher remained as polarising in death as she was in life, with six police injured at one of a number of parties that took place across the country to celebrate the death of a woman whose critics accuse of destroying British industry.

Trouble erupted at several parties to celebrate her death, reminiscent in their own small way of the sometimes violent protests by miners, trade unions and anti-tax protesters during the 1980s.