British writers have shown their support for their American comrades today, as they staged a demonstration in London.

A large number of writers assembled outside the Trades Union Congress building, holding red and black placards reading: “We support the Writers Guild of America.”

Playwright David Edgar, president of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, said that without payment for internet use, writers’ relationship to their work was like “the widget-maker’s relationship to the widget once it is made - that is, none at all.”

Further protests were held in Paris, Berlin and four Australian cities.