Small but effective lunchtime actions in Haringey, London
rikki | 31.10.2002 16:14
A small group of protestors stopped the traffic in a very effective action at Finsbury Park today at midday.
I'll post pictures tomorrow.
I'll post pictures tomorrow.
A small group of protestors stopped the traffic at Finsbury Park on the Stroud Green Road at midday today.
About a dozen protestors sat across the road and stoped traffic for about half an hour, while other supporters handed leaflets to passers-by and to the drivers of the affected vehicles. The police arrived after about ten minutes and negotiated with the protestors while diverting traffic round other streets causing quite appreciable commotion on the roads.
For some time, traffic backed up to the main junction and caused further havoc around the area. Despite this, drivers were for the most part good natured and supportive of the cause. I would say about 70% were in absolute support. After further negotiation, the protestors agreed to end their action after about half an hour.
The BBC were there covering the action and interviewing protestors - let's hope it gets some coverage.
Afterwards at one o'clock, a small rally took place at the Clock Tower in Crouch End, with petitioning and leafletting of passers-by and traffic. The police were monitoring this and in fact an SO photographer turned up to take snaps. They got some nice shots of a group of mainly Muslim school girls who turned up chanting slogans and leafletting - obviously a new tactic to track subversives from a very young age:)
Response from the public was again very supportive with the exception of the occasional Sun-reading white-van owning types who made their deep understanding and analysis of the situation known by shouting things like "bomb the fuckers" as they drove past.
There are other rallies demos planned in the Haringey area, for the afternoon, but many people are heading down to Parliament Square for this evening.
One final note - it seems that the only demo that attracted media interest was the one that involved civil disobedience - this must be the way forward.
About a dozen protestors sat across the road and stoped traffic for about half an hour, while other supporters handed leaflets to passers-by and to the drivers of the affected vehicles. The police arrived after about ten minutes and negotiated with the protestors while diverting traffic round other streets causing quite appreciable commotion on the roads.
For some time, traffic backed up to the main junction and caused further havoc around the area. Despite this, drivers were for the most part good natured and supportive of the cause. I would say about 70% were in absolute support. After further negotiation, the protestors agreed to end their action after about half an hour.
The BBC were there covering the action and interviewing protestors - let's hope it gets some coverage.
Afterwards at one o'clock, a small rally took place at the Clock Tower in Crouch End, with petitioning and leafletting of passers-by and traffic. The police were monitoring this and in fact an SO photographer turned up to take snaps. They got some nice shots of a group of mainly Muslim school girls who turned up chanting slogans and leafletting - obviously a new tactic to track subversives from a very young age:)
Response from the public was again very supportive with the exception of the occasional Sun-reading white-van owning types who made their deep understanding and analysis of the situation known by shouting things like "bomb the fuckers" as they drove past.
There are other rallies demos planned in the Haringey area, for the afternoon, but many people are heading down to Parliament Square for this evening.
One final note - it seems that the only demo that attracted media interest was the one that involved civil disobedience - this must be the way forward.
rikki
