The demonstration had originally been called by Globalise Resistance for around 8.30am in the morning to coincide with the start of the registration period for delegates attending the Institute of Directors (IoD) annual conference at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Kissinger the war criminal was due to speak at around 1pm. In the run up, the IoD changed the registration time to 7.30am, - many assumed this was to try and beat the protestors, who responded by changing the start time of the protest to 7.30am. In the end there weren't that many people there at 7.30am, although neither were there many delegates turning up at that time in the morning. The place was heavily guarded already, with police surveillance officers on the surrounding buildings as well as on the ground studying pictures of known protestors, some were on nearby scaffolding complete with climbing rope, and police dogs were stationed around the tall monuments opposite in the park - no doubt to prevent them being used to hang banners from - as well as mounted police in reserve further inside the park ground. The college next door had closed several of it's entrances, police vans were lined up in the surrounding streets, and enclosures made out of crash barriers had been prepared on the opposite side of the street. As people gathered outside the front of the Albert Hall a giant Kissinger puppet, complete with people dressed to represent corporate villains macdonalds and the military contained within the its pockets, provided the initial focus. A good deal of press turned out including BBC newsnight who are planning a Mayday feature programme for next Tuesday night, although they say it will mostly focus on trade unions and not anti-capitalists. As more people arrived through the morning a group gathered around the side of the Albert Hall where the delegates were arriving. Here people were harassed by the police and photographed almost continuously, some were threatened with arrest if they did not move further away from the entrance crash barriers. Later when the numbers around the side had swelled and they were chanting as delegates began to arrive more steadily, the police moved in to push people away. Without issuing a warning the group was surrounded by the police, who initially tried to push the group from both sides causing a crush. Large numbers of police then continued to push the tightly enclosed people as they shouted "Henry Kissinger - War Criminal" around the side of the building towards the front in what can only be described as a scrum formation. With much shouting and screaming I witnessed several police officers punching and kicking the surrounded demonstrators, one in particular, officer 1556, was seen repeatedly and deliberately kicking the ankles and shins of protestors - remember if a protestor retaliated and did this back just once, they would be arrested immediately. The police were obviously manoeuvring people towards the crash barrier pens on the opposite side of the road to the hall and as they stopped the traffic to push people over the road, the protestors tried to sit down. Scuffles broke out as police dragged those sitting to the pens and pushed them in. One person was thrown heavily to the ground a hit their head heavily, while people looked after the person the two police medics seemed more interested in finding out the persons name. Soon the majority of the group had been pushed inside the pens, but then the larger group of GR protestors next to the giant puppet further down moved into the road with flags and banners and staged another sit down - seeing this others rushed out of the pens to join them. With reinforcements arriving from the surrounding streets the police then surrounded them and again methodically photographed everyone. Before long the police were again dragging and lifting people from the road and taking them to the crash barrier pens as people chanted "This is what democracy looks like" - a long succession of people were paraded past the cameras as other officers confiscated and destroyed banners and flags. The mood was mixed with some officers obviously being treating people with care, others being more violent in their treatment of protestors. It was interesting to see the photographs of the protests on Indymedia, as it seemed that some of the roughest treatment was reserved for some of the key people from Globalise Resistance - one carried away from the sit down supported by his throat, the other subjected to fully intentional and painful wrist locking. There was a pause in the proceedings as the police left a now smaller group sitting in the road before then removing them. A friend taking photographs from the park opposite which was now full of police told how he was ordered to leave the park by an inspector and told to stop taking pictures because he was 'inflaming the situation', this depite various corporate journalists standing on ground level next to the crash barriers where people were being carried. This pattern was repeated as the police removed people form the street but left others who dressed smarter. The street was re-opened to traffic as the crowd now mostly within the crash barriers chanted anti-kissinger slogans. A Reuters journo later turned up at 10.30am and began to write his article about the earlier protest. Police photographers continued to snap people for the police files. A business woman in a creme power suit passed by and shouted to police "you should throw them all in prison - scum!". What impressed me most was the peacefulness and calm of the protestors when faced with some instances of obvious police violence, and the support everyone gave to each other. Shouts of "keep it fluffy" mingled with campaign slogans, and people seemed to be confident in the actions they were taking. All in all there were around 200 people there during the morning, and the IoD delegates were well aware of the protest, as no doubt was Kissinger. I left before he arrived so I don't know what happened then but I know people stayed there protesting. Background: Henry Kissinger was Richard Nixon’s Secretary of State, his second in command. He was a driving force behind the US war on Vietnam which killed 1 million Vietnamese people. Kissinger was directly responsible for ordering the carpet-bombing of Cambodia in 1969. He gave full backing and military assistance to the Pinochet coup in Chile, later sanctioning the murder of Orlando Letelier in Washington in 1976. Kissinger backed the Pakistani government in opposing Bangladeshi indpendence. Once again he supplied arms and intelligence. He gave the go-ahead for the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975. Over 200,000 people were killed as a result. He was also responsible for souring relations between Turkey, Greece and Cyprus, a division which still produces murder and maiming. Kissinger’s legacy of American brutality around the world survives. He remains a hero to the warmongers in Washington and Downing Street. Kissinger Associates’ clients have included Union Carbide, Coca-Cola, American Express, ITT Lockheed, Arco and HSBC. Links: The Trial of Henry Kissinger http://www.trialofhenrykissinger.org Materials connected with Christopher Hitchens' book, which argues that Kissinger should be tried by an international tribunal for war crimes. Includes excerpts from the book, reviews, discussions, links etc. Profile of Henry Kissinger http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/feature_kissinger_profile.shtml "Balanced" BBC account of the "Nobel Prize winner, football fan and alleged war criminal" East Timor Action Network Kissinger Pages http://www.etan.org/news/kissinger Evidence that Kissinger gave the green light to Indonesia's invasion of East Timor, which was followed by genocide Chile Documentation Project http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/latin_america/chile.htm Forcing the American government to publish documents which prove that the US, including Kissinger, were behind the Pinochet coup in Chile. More links at GR webpage: http://www.resist.org.uk/reports/archive/misc/kissingerinfo.html