Sat protest from Covent Garden: Anti-war pots and pans sweep through London
Pan banger | 29.03.2003 17:31
Protesters swept up through Soho and along OXFORD ST blocking traffic as they went. Not a policeman in sight, mostly,
A call for autonomous anti-war action meeting outside the LSE also called a couple of police vans, so protesters dispersed and met again a bit later at Covent Garden, where they took over Long Acre for Food not Bombs, free sandwiches handed out, having blocked the road with a chain and shopping trolley.
Police arrived after 20 minutes or so and took away the chain and shopping trolley, so most people moved to pedestrianised Neal Street, at which point police seemed to lose interest.
With loud drumming, whistling and pots and pans banging protesters then swept along Shaftesbury Ave, Soho and along Oxford st and Regent st, holding up traffic all the way.
They then joined the end of the Stop the War march to protest outside the BBC in Portland Place.
Support from people was good except for three oikey wankers on Oxford St who heckled and grabbed some free sandwiches and flung them onto the road - a pretty disgusting display of brutalised behaviour.
The protest was loud and traffic stopping and shows what less than 20 people can do
Police arrived after 20 minutes or so and took away the chain and shopping trolley, so most people moved to pedestrianised Neal Street, at which point police seemed to lose interest.
With loud drumming, whistling and pots and pans banging protesters then swept along Shaftesbury Ave, Soho and along Oxford st and Regent st, holding up traffic all the way.
They then joined the end of the Stop the War march to protest outside the BBC in Portland Place.
Support from people was good except for three oikey wankers on Oxford St who heckled and grabbed some free sandwiches and flung them onto the road - a pretty disgusting display of brutalised behaviour.
The protest was loud and traffic stopping and shows what less than 20 people can do
Pan banger
Comments
Hide the following 4 comments
Food Not Bombs - please make contact
29.03.2003 20:06
For info on Food Not Bombs see
pat @ veggies
e-mail:
pat@veggies.org.uk
Homepage:
http://www.veggies.org.uk
need patience at start of autonomous actions
30.03.2003 12:09
If I was a bit more paranoid I'd think the STWC sent people to undermine autonomous action but it prob ably wasn't this.
observer
no we wern't that suprised
30.03.2003 12:37
but once it was clear the original plan wouldn't work we asked people to disperse...
this was our first action as a small autonomous group, and although it didn't work as well as planned we were glad that despite van loads of police at LSE and covent garden we managed to pull something off and not get nicked.
so our belief in organising and planning was reaffirmed. lets all do more stuff like this, that breaks from the a to b mould, which the coalition seems so set on...
disorganiser
"Autonomous"?
31.03.2003 13:14
Panhandler