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G7 Finance Ministers Protest Friday

Bloke | 08.02.2005 10:45 | G8 2005 | London

Last night, the G7 Finance ministers met in Lancaster House, The Mall, Central London


I thought I'd go and check out the protest. I didn't have an affinity group and wasn't feeling that sociable so I just ended up watching really.

Lancaster House has a front entrance on the Mall (the big avenue that goes from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace), and a back entrance. On one side is a park.

By the front entrance there were many police vans, and also an array of satellite dishes. At first I thought these were something to do with tv news broadcasting but it looked more like they were security related. Anyone got any idea what they're for?

The protest wasn't that big, but it's good that it happened. World Development Movement (WDM) had banners saying "Drop The Debt" and did some shouting and stuff and they had a big board which said "Since this meeting began _______ children have died of poverty.", with an electronic counter that increased by 1 about every three seconds.

After a while, the samba band Rhythms Of Resistance arrived on the scene, colourfully dressed, knocking out some funky rhythms.

There was an anarchist / horizontal contingent who arrived early on the scene. For a while, they could be seen walking around in small groups looking dodgy (but in a good way!) and being followed by various police officers. "You follow these two, I'll keep an eye on this lot" I heard one uniformed man say to his colleague. I didn't stay until the end, so I'm not sure what they got up to eventually but I suspect they got some banners out or something.

There are lots more of these ministerials before the G8 Summit in Gleneagles. Anyone got a list of dates?
bloke

Bloke

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

FIT team present?

08.02.2005 11:52

Were the police taking pictures of the protestors?

Doug.

Re: Were the police taking photos

08.02.2005 18:45

Yep.

bloke

future actions

10.02.2005 15:29

i was at that one and it was not good.
basically it was a photoshoot. Lots of cameras. maybe a dozen anarchos, each with their own personal cop following them around. A few visible automatic weapons being lugged about by armed cops. A very weak coralled-in Drop-the-Debt protest. And a samba band doing a gig for the benefit of the police.
I still think the series of ministerial meetings is worth organising around, but it will take more people, more energy and some kind of plan. With more people around it would be a lot less easy for cops to intrusively film your every move, and everybody would have a great deal more freedom of movement.
Coming up are the Employment ministerial on March 10th and the Energy and Environment ministerial on the 15th, closely followed by the Environment and Development meeting on the 17th.
Thats not very long from now.

fred bloggs

You sound like you're up for doing some planning...

11.02.2005 18:02

So do you know about the South East anti-G8 Assembly? They meet quite regularly. (Don't have the details right here but do a search). They're mobilising for these events but they're more concerned with preparing for the big one but they are talking about these events. They meet on Saturdays. I'm sure they'd appreciate your energy.

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