..and where are we off to? To spontaneously storm Parliament?

Um... that's great but what is it?

Some wordage would be nice.

erm, woo-hoo!

These pictures are from the anarchist group who broke away from the main body of the march. This began as a result of the dissatisfaction felt by members of the group towards the way the march was organised – e.g. heavy-handed stewards who were trying to prevent people from walking on the grass in Hyde Park and being given leaflets informing protesters what the agreed slogans were for the day.

Walking up Piccadilly there were some attempts to try to march over the whole of the road, with activists removing tape and cones. However these were met with little enthusiasm and active policing.

Upon reaching Piccadilly Circus, there was a decision to hold a brief sit down, as has become traditional on recent anti-war marches. The group moved away from the march and blocked traffic instead of the route of the march. They remained there for about fifteen minutes before deciding to move.

After a brief run, the group managed to evade the pursuing cops and decided to take a different route to Trafalgar Square occupying the roads and slowing traffic. Upon reaching the Square, amazed at the lack of police, the group decided to continue down Whitehall and charged through Horseguard’s Parade, scaring the cops on duty at the back of Downing Street. The group continued round to the Foreign Office, managing to penetrate the security before being robustly removed by the police.

The group then returned to Whitehall and linked arms to prevent the now gathered cops from removing them from the road. They proceeded to walk slowly, blocking traffic, until deciding to stop for much needed alcoholic refreshment.

The police remained outside the pub for several hours, following people who left to make phone calls. In a bizarre twist, they started threatening to arrest under Section 5 (causing harassment alarm and/or distress) for taking photographs of them (something to remember the next time a cop points a camera in your face!).

The point? There is a huge need to start demonstrating outside the limits that the state imposes. There is no need to follow the strict rules imposed on a public demonstration; there is no need to be intimidated by the police. Yes, it was a small action with a small group of people. No, it probably had no effect in the long time scheme of things whatsoever. However it made a change from listening to the usual speeches, it was empowering to walk the streets with the group dictating where to go next and it was a start. If double the number takes this kind of action next, triple the time after that, then slowly some kind of resistance can be built.

Ok – and it was really good fun! This doesn’t detract from the seriousness of the cause in any way, but who said resistance had to be boring?!