[On Saturday], there was a Palestine Solidarity rally in Trafalgar Square from 2pm, and an obvious possibility that people would afterwards return to the Israeli Green Zone in Kensington to demonstrate their opposition to Israel's humanitarian efforts, which this week included using white phosphorus shells for the strangely frowned upon purpose of burning down UNRWA food and medicine warehouses.
( http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2009/090116_Gaza.doc.htm)

Clearly, such ill-tempered tetchyness from the demonstrators could not be facilitated.

The Met said an appropriate policing response had been prepared ( http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5je-TjUPfTsFRUA1cGUZUmoDhOChA) or as one BTP PSU Sergeant remarked "You can see why the Met would go a bit overboard after fucking up two weeks in a row."

What the Met spokesman meant was that any march from Trafalgar Square to the embassy had been banned, in accordance with the well-worn provisions of the Ways and Means Act 1414. The whole area around Trafalgar Square was swollen with van upon van (60+) of bored PSUs & TSG, dog handlers from three forces, horse lorries and of course, surveillance units in 4x4s. On Suffolk Street long and short shields hung in rows on railings, such was the eagerness to facilitate lawful protest.

By 4pm there were approx four to five thousand * people in the square, when the speeches drew to an end. As Tony Benn was being put back in his box, streaks of fluorescent yellow stained the surrounding streets, determined to prevent any serious disruption to the career of Bob Broadhurst.

A section of the crowd exited the square by the South West corner and headed for Pall Mall, where they found themselves surrounded by a formidable number of cops who surrounded them in the now traditional fashion, doubtless "for their own safety".

But it seemed they had overcommitted as other sections of the crowd moved to block Charing Cross Road and Duncannon Street largely unhindered, then thought better of it and headed for Soho and Oxford Street (still aiming to reach the embassy) with police struggling to follow due to the traffic disruption they had themselves caused by blocking the Haymarket / Pall Mall junction.

One group of around 200 protesters jogged down Shaftesbury Avenue, pausing to smash the windows of a Starbucks by Wardour Street, and the windows of another Starbucks on Piccadilly before finally being cut off at Green Park, only metres from a third round of glass lattes.

Meanwhile at the embassy itself there was relative calm, with a shaky ceasefire mostly holding behind the sandbags, but despite this the police still felt the necessity to round everyone up and force them on to trains ( http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/01/419031.html) perhaps as collective punishment for overdoing the holocaust references.

This week, as Gaza clears its rubble and counts its dead, and the IDF decides how far to pull back, how much to loosen the noose, it's unlikely the rage will go away, next Saturday will probably be one to watch.
( http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/01/418757.html)

* The Met's official estimate was 3,500 - but we all know they're no better at counting crowds than Geoff Jackson is at counting his units.
( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4030973/Police-officer-who-stole-and-crashed-riot-van-jailed.html)