Friday, November 21, 2003
The march yesterday was great fun. I've got some photo's on my camera which if I can get the software to behave I'll post later. I got to Charing Cross around 5:00 pm. The police claim there were 100 000 protesters against the organisers 200 000, but to be honest I'd treat both numbers with caution. All I can say is that of all the demo's I've been to that ended up in Trafalgar Square this was the biggest. And there could well have been any number of people like me who didn't go on the march but turned up later. The side roads around the Square were completely chocka too, even the stairs of the church at the top of the Square (Saint Martin's in the Field?) was full of people.
It was good natured as well, but this was a wide range of ordinary people coming to make their views known, not a narrow sub-section of society.
Finding people was almost impossible, it was dark by this point, though the street lamps and people's torches were illuminating things unevenly. But with the noise of the crowd and a police helicopter flying fairly low overhead mobile communication was extremely difficult. I bumped into Mister Posters, more by luck than judgement, and we ended up around the back of Nelson's Column, so we only got to hear not see the epic moment when Bush's statue was toppled, but we did get to see some arse setting off fireworks from the square at the top of Whitehall. They only managed two thankfully, one which went straight up and then another which went a few feet in the air then hung a sharp right. For a second I thought it was going to explode in a crowd of people that were coming to the Square from Charing Cross but thankfully it exploded above their heads. There were no more fireworks thankfully, whether the person was malicious or stupid we will never know.
Otherwise the crowd was very good natured. Some people came dressed up, there was no Anti-Americanism that I could see, just anti-Bush. The right-wing might choose to ignore or not grasp the concept that the majority of people demonstrating do still value the 'special relationship' our country has with the United States, it's just that we can differentiate between a country and it's head of state. We can love America and hate the prick-in-chief and find no contradiction between those two stances.
Anyway, after a while some small bonfires started up, which the police surprisingly didn't do anything to stop. The basic fuel for these bonfires were the signs that had been carried all day. This wasn't supposed to signify any kind of disagreement with the point of the march, they were fuel. However, should something like a poster of Bush or a dummy of Blair be added, then that was a political statement to be cheered.
Stayed for a couple of hours then left, made the long slog along to Goodge Street station, nearby which I finally met up with all the other people I'd been hoping to meet on the march...
More later, and check the Indymedia site here.
It was good natured as well, but this was a wide range of ordinary people coming to make their views known, not a narrow sub-section of society.
Finding people was almost impossible, it was dark by this point, though the street lamps and people's torches were illuminating things unevenly. But with the noise of the crowd and a police helicopter flying fairly low overhead mobile communication was extremely difficult. I bumped into Mister Posters, more by luck than judgement, and we ended up around the back of Nelson's Column, so we only got to hear not see the epic moment when Bush's statue was toppled, but we did get to see some arse setting off fireworks from the square at the top of Whitehall. They only managed two thankfully, one which went straight up and then another which went a few feet in the air then hung a sharp right. For a second I thought it was going to explode in a crowd of people that were coming to the Square from Charing Cross but thankfully it exploded above their heads. There were no more fireworks thankfully, whether the person was malicious or stupid we will never know.
Otherwise the crowd was very good natured. Some people came dressed up, there was no Anti-Americanism that I could see, just anti-Bush. The right-wing might choose to ignore or not grasp the concept that the majority of people demonstrating do still value the 'special relationship' our country has with the United States, it's just that we can differentiate between a country and it's head of state. We can love America and hate the prick-in-chief and find no contradiction between those two stances.
Anyway, after a while some small bonfires started up, which the police surprisingly didn't do anything to stop. The basic fuel for these bonfires were the signs that had been carried all day. This wasn't supposed to signify any kind of disagreement with the point of the march, they were fuel. However, should something like a poster of Bush or a dummy of Blair be added, then that was a political statement to be cheered.
Stayed for a couple of hours then left, made the long slog along to Goodge Street station, nearby which I finally met up with all the other people I'd been hoping to meet on the march...
More later, and check the Indymedia site here.
