Thursday afternoon and a bunch of us took the train down to London for the Anti-Bush protest in Central London.
By the time I got near to the start of the march at Malet Street at about 13:30, it got really crowded. So crowded in fact that we had to take a detour at the begining of the march, which took almost an hour and a half to get back to the starting point at Mallett Street, despite just going round one block! How we scoffed at the initial police estimates of only 30,000 people.
Aside from the usual rent-a-mob's (socialist workers party and chums, and talk about cashing in... [1]), there was a suprisingly large and diverse number of people on the march. I was gratified to see how many people (shopkeepers excepted) cheered us on along the route.
Three and a quarter hours later we arrived outside the houses of parliament, the members of which got a rude awakening by the blowing of whistles, shouting, and general cacophany as the marchers filed by. Tony Blair got a similar welcome as we filed past Dowing Street.
Finally at 17:15 we arrived in Trafalgar Square, just in time to watch the toppling of the statue of George Bush. An event that had considerably more people participating than that pathetic staged toppling of Saddam back in May. After the statue fell to huge cheers from the crowd, it was treated to a good bit of kicking from more than willing participants.
Estimates of the total number of people who turned up now range from 110,000 (Official Metropolitan Police estimate) up to 300,000 (Stop the war coalition).
Photos of the event can be found at:
- nofear (awful quality)
- The BBC (with commentary)
- User Submitted photos to the BBC
- The Daily Telegraph
- antiwar.co.uk
- guilfin.net (along with reports)
- IndyMedia
I'll be up for a bit more of this should the opportunity arise!
[1]
A few of the organisations who handed me leaflets on the March:
- Socialist Labour Party London Region
- Colombia Solidarity Campaign
- SOAS Palestine Society
- StopEsso (organised by GreenPeace)
- Campaign Against Arms Trade
- The D10 Group (A Bloody History of Northwood Military HQ)
- World People's Resistance Movement (Hands Off Nepal!)
- Medical Aid for Palestinians
- Voices UK (Eyewitness Baghdad)
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