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Kids revolution

H | 20.03.2003 14:56

Schoolkids are showing the way to go in the anti-war movement. Reclaiming the streets, dismantling the barricades designed to keep protest in check and moving quickly behind police lines while resisting heavy police handling. In a show of great sus whistles, sit-downs and
spontaneous defiant actions have kept Parliament Square out of police control for a couple of hours now.

Schoolkids are showing the way to go in the anti-war movement. Reclaiming the streets, dismantling the barricades designed to keep protest in check and moving quickly behind police lines while resisting heavy police handling. In a show of great sus whistles, sit-downs and
spontaneous defiant actions have kept Parliament Square out of police control for a couple of hours now.

At around 12 a large group of mainly teens broke out of the fenced in Square and occupied the road in front of parliament bringing all traffic on that side to a standstill. Shortly after, another enterprising group, seeing traffic still moving, blocked the junction nearest the Abbey, ensuring all traffic was halted.

As the police attempted to clear each protest many others quickly moved behind police lines and occupied another part of the Square. As we heard whistles, many headed towards that section to strengthen the occupation there.

By two o'clock despite heavy handling by police(many complained that it felt like having their arms pulled out of their sockets when removed from a sit-down) the central junction at bottom of Whitehall was sucessfully occupied.

Keep on showing the way - by tonight we could have brought this city to a standstill!

H

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Dulwich school

20.03.2003 19:36

At my school in Dulwich at first break several hundred people all gathered, and we were gonna go into London, but the teachers blocked all the exits, and we charged around the school going to all the exits, but they kept physically blocking us and everybody chickened out not wanting to push past. They threatened us all with explusion/suspension if we didn't go back to classes etc, saying we'd made out point etc, and it turned into a big sitdown on the grass. However they eventually dispersed that too, but a handful still went, and then after the first lesson a few of us ran out and came to Parliament. Then after school ended some more came too. There are loads of people against the war, lots of students, and the teachers had to physically stop us from leaving and joining the protest in London, and threaten us with suspension/expulsion.

Harry