Demo report
The demo kicked off at Abbey courtyard, from where 25 activists took to the roads (without permission from, and against the wishes of the local cops) and headed for Milsom street, home to most of Baths highstreet banks. Once there, we blocked the road for 10-15 minutes, ignoring police threats (quickly turning to pleas), conducting a noisy demo against the banks, during which, several members of the public spontaneously joined us, asking to get involved in the campaign. From there, we moved off to Guildhall, seat of Baths Mayor and council and blockaded the entrance. The blockade lasted around 10 minutes and only ended when a wedding party needed to get in and we decided to move to one side! The wedding guests were in full support of the demo, and cheered us on. The bride even stopped to have her photo taken with one of the activists!
From there, the police tried to move us left along the pavement back to the demos starting point. Instead, we took the road and moved right, back to Natwest, which was briefly blockaded and vandalised with ‘where’s our bailout?’ stickers. We then held a short, but noisy and well received demo outside the bank, before heading off to Abbey courtyard, from where most activists went on to get fed at the Bath vegan fayre.


Reflections
• Despite a great deal of support for the demo from the local (i.e South West) activist community before the event, this largely failed to materialise on the day, and a large part of the demo was made up of first time protesters and locals from Baths estates. While more practical support from the activist scene would have been nice, we see this as a positive sign that our campaigns and initiatives are beginning to resonate with the wider public.
• While the numbers on the demo stayed fairly consistently at 25, around 35 people took part in all, or some of the demo, with several shoppers spontaneously joining us!
• The demo was frequently cheered and shown support by member of the public, many of whom approached the demo to ask for leaflets and info. This is definitely a campaign that a lot of people share our views on, so getting out there is well worthwhile.
• Despite a fairly low police presence, they were unpleasant and threatening, but we refused to compromise to their demands and consistently did what we wanted, refusing to enter into any talks or negotiations about the demo route, length, direct actions etc, a very empowering experience!
• The demo was called by Bath Activist Network, a group defined by broadly anarchist politics (although far from exclusively), but designed to be inclusive and non-sectarian. As such, local trade unions, socialists etc were invited, and some Socialist Party activists were present, and more than welcome. We also had good conversations with some SWP members, and members of SWP fronts such as ‘People B4 Profit’ who were eager to support the demo. However, the Bath branch of the SWP felt the need to publicly announce their opposition to the demo, a line not taken (as far as we know) by the SWP nationally or regionally. We can only assume that this is because there was no opportunity for them to stamp their logo on the event, and due to an odd dislike that the local SWP have held towards BAN, despite being invited to BAN meetings and events. Just to make this clear – we don’t want this to be a sectarian campaign, and welcome all except governmental, corporate or fascist groups into the campaign.

All in all, the demo was well recieved, and positive, and felt like the start of an effective, widely supported and uncompromising campaign.

For more info, or to get involved, contact Bath Activist Network on  bathactivistnet@yahoo.co.uk

For more reports on the demo and campaign and more local activism and community news, email  bathbombpress@yahoo.co.uk for a copy of Bath Bomb, Baths free monthly radical newssheet.