1 million in anti-war demo florence

imc uk | 09.11.2002 16:02

Latest reports estimate 1 million demonstrators at Anti-war demo in Florence

15.30:
The demo started 2 hours before it was officially planned to begin (2 pm / 13.00 GTM) as a massive number of people have gathered in the streets of Florence in opposition to a war in Iraq.

The numbers are now estimated to 1 million
(according to IMC Italy and international corporate press in Florence).

Live reports from Florence describe; a peaceful, relaxed atmosphere and a loud demo with drums, music and slogans. People are dancing in the streets and balconies.

imc uk

Comments

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No way were there one million people!

09.11.2002 17:11

No way were there one million people on that anti-war march!There were only 150,000 on the anti-war march in London a few weeks ago but the left exaggerated and said that there were 400,000! I hate it when people overestimate the numbers turning out for demos! There were probably about 300,000 people there at the most!

Harlequin

Oh come on...

09.11.2002 17:48

How do you know - did you count? Funny that - the Countryside Alliance said there were 300,000 people at their demo and nobody said that was only the right exaggerating. So how come when it comes to left-wing demos, the figures we give out are always labelled as 'exagerrated'?
Face facts - you might just be up against a popular movement here...

Caroline

well well well

09.11.2002 18:56

i have never seen so many people, and i have no flipping idea how you can tell how many such a crowds numbers up to; but one thing is for sure - there were people in all directions for miles and miles - the usual exodus from a big stadium concert would have fitted hundreds of times..... whether exaggerated or not, a million sounds like the right image to me.... maybe there was two? anyway - the last big demo in Rome counted 2-3 million - this is italy and not little silly england.... people are political here - so go back to your tv..

zer0

Where are the chopper shots?

09.11.2002 22:20

When there is a police "persuit in progress" we all see footage taken from choppers all over the TV.
Funny how no news hellicopters seem to be arrond during a protest.
If you have a camera plan well before a protest to get the best shots from the tops of buildings. Or better still raise some funds for your own chatered flight. Lets show everyone what the mainstream media dosn't.

Dace in Australia.

dace

Those numbers are exaggerated though !

09.11.2002 23:04

That countryside demonstration actually was 400,000 because I was there and have never seen such vast crowds except at the Notting Hill Carnival. The countryside Alliance demo started at 10am and the last marchers reached the end of the march at 5:30pm and that was from two seperate routes on starting in Hyde Park and one near Tower Bridge!

300,000 people is a hell of a lot of people but no way were there one million, if there had been one million people then they would still be marching now! And public transport wouldn't be able to cope with taking those numbers away from Florance either!

Left Wingers do exaggerate numbers at demos. There have never been 2 to 3 million either maybe 600,000 on that demo which you said 2 to 3 million but you would never ever gets such high numbers as 2 million on any demonstration whatever it was about!

Harlequin

Estimating Crowd Sizes Should Be Easy

10.11.2002 05:22

Estimating the size of anti-war demonstrations like those in London, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and now Florence should be relatively easy -- for the NSA or CIA, that is. Direct a recon bird (spy satellite) over Florence and take some pictures. Estimate the density of human beings [easily identifiable by their infra-red signatures] in the streets on a square meter basis and multiple that by the number of square kilometers they occupied at the height of the demonstration. Should give you a fairly accurate estimate of total participants, be it just 300,000 or the 1,000,000.

I would guess the numbers of the marchers in Florence -- and the other protest cities -- is known in the White House, if not, somebody at Langley or Fort Meades isn't doing their job.

Willie von Grebendorf

Golly

11.11.2002 00:29

I just popped over from the IMC main site... It looks like this "Harlequin" character is really, really dedicated to nay-saying about crowd numbers. One has to wonder why.

DJEB

Who gives a flying (@&(#&

11.11.2002 01:37

Who gives a *@&^*#& if it were 300,000 or 400,000 or 598,378? Its still a LOT OF PEOPLE DEMONSTRATING AGAINST THIS UNJUST WAR.

And there is no DEMOCRACY in the world, because the minority will have its war and kill innocent people no matter how many people speak against it.

Heil Bush!

It as amazing...

11.11.2002 14:56

I went to the couple days of workshops and the demonstration/march and i have to say i have never been to a better organized event. the conference was very informative--which was a great feat to accomplish for such a large number of attendees--and the march was a really nice time for people to just be together and stand for something...i thought it was great that the presence of police was very minimal. the police were there, but they kept out of site and it totally changed the dynamics of the crowd...it wasn't as tense because we were given the space to just be there together and organize without the state in our faces with riot gear and intimidating trucks ready to carry people away. i think the city of florence trained the police well for this event and i'd like to see the same training applied to other people/marches around the world.

jennileen
mail e-mail: n/a
Homepage: n/a

Don't get hung up on numbers

12.11.2002 11:50

One thing is for sure, regardless how many were in the streets in Florence, or DC,
or San Francisco, or Hillsdale Michigan, this has got to be one of the most unpopular wars
before it has started that I can recall (and I am no spring chicken)

Dave
Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/stopthiswar2002/ACTION.html

Crowd Sizes

14.11.2002 13:36

Crowd sizes are estimated by the area of people and thier density as explained in Joel Best's book, "Damned Lies and Statistics." In his book he states that normally the police and activists are wrong in estimates because they are both biased. Best states that the best source of information is usually park workers or municipal planners, like to department of transportation. They have been estimating crowd sizes for years in an effort to better maintain the city. My point is that if you want to know the size of that crowd in Florence dont listen to the portest organizers or the police, they are both wrong. Go to a source that quotes the Florence DOT and you will get a much more accurate number.

johnway

florentine police says

19.11.2002 12:54

florentine city police estimated a
850.000 people marching on during the manifestation.

this was published in local newspaper and accepted by local florentine tv. italian state (all berlusconi controlled) tvs instead say half of it.

toni_i