More than 250 protestors (many wearing bloodied dressings, torn clothing and bandages) gathered this morning at ten thirty in Whitehall Place. The group represented a cross-section of ages from a couple of babies to several elders in their eighties. People had come from places as far afield as Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, and North Wales. There was a large police presence intent on stopping any obstruction of the road in Whitehall. There was also quite a large press presence, including BBC News, Radio London, Channel 5 and several newspapers.

When the march set off into Whitehall, it became apparent that the police were trying to keep demonstrators on the pavement from the start. In response to this, a group of forty or fifty spilled out into the road at the first corner and 'died' covering about half the carriageway. Meanwhile, many others continued towards Downing Street. Despite the police presence, many small groups and occasionally larger groups managed to peacefully break through and lie in the road causing severe traffic disruption throughout the morning. Sand spread round the road and a soundtrack of war sounds also added to the atmosphere to create a powerful image symbolising the death of innocents in war.

The main group were eventually penned in by two sets of iron barricades and lines of police opposite Downing Street, but at about one o'clock, they were allowed to walk back along the pavement to join the smaller group that still claimed half the carriageway at the corner of Whitehall Place. One demonstrator managed somehow to get into the Cabinet Office before being ejected, and also bumped into Robin Cook in a corridor of the Foreign Office! (So much for heightened security!!)

Meanwhile out on the road, small groups were still managing to stop the traffic at various intervals. Many found themselves "arrested", dragged to the side of the road, and then "de-arrested". However, a few plucky and persistent protestors were eventually arrested 'permamently' and taken off in vans, meant as a warning to the others.

After three hours, a decision was taken to end the present action and move en masse down to Parliament Square to show solidarity to Bill, the anti-war protestor that has kept up a daily vigil in the Square for more than a year now.

The move went without incident at first, as demonstrators were kept on the pavement by police on foot and in vans. However, about fifty yards past the Cenotaph, police stopped the traffic themselves to escort the procession across the road, and it was at this point that around thirty protestors felt faint once again and collapsed in the road:) The whole of Whitehall was effectively blocked for a few minutes, but police were swift to act and started dragging people off under arrest and into police vans where about thirty more were taken off to various police stations.

Latest news from the legal support team is that those arrested are beginning to be released and most accepted cautions after being offered this as an alternative to charge. It appears that none of those arrested had their charges dropped and that all offences were 'obstruction of the highway'.

Despite the huge press attendance and fantastic photo-opportunity, the protest only had about five seconds coverage on the main BBC lunchtime news and none on the local BBC news. It received no coverage from ITV at lunchtime.

I'll post up some pics tomorrow.