The SWP (who dominate the Stop the War Coalition) dictated the slow pace of the march. The march of hundreds of thousands of people was also forced through a narrow section consisting of one pavement and a narrow section of road, and thereafter forced onto one side of the road all the way.
According to a steward who was posted to the front of the march, the STWC gave orders to stewards to prevent the frustrated marchers behind from overtaking the celebrities posted at the front. The organisers set a snail's pace for the march, apparently on account of one celebrity's disability.
It is not clear whether the celebrity concerned realised that the pace set at the front was partly responsible for creating a situation in which people waited several hours to set off on the march, and subsequently took another 2 hours to move down Malet Street.
The other reason for the less than shuffling pace and squashed conditions was that, below Malet Street, people were forced into a narrow section which consisted of a pavement and a narrow strip of road. Traffic was waved on by police in the remaining wide section of road, the better to enforce the railings hemming them in. And the rest of the march was confined to one side of the road, rather than the whole road, which several hundred thousand people need in order to march in a comfortable manner.
It would be be considered cruelty to herd hundreds of thousands of animals in such confined spaces, and to force them to walk at an unbearably slow pace. Yet it was imposed on protesters last Thursday.
It would be a good idea if another organisation took up the coordination of these marches - eg. Arrow?
It is not clear whether the celebrity concerned realised that the pace set at the front was partly responsible for creating a situation in which people waited several hours to set off on the march, and subsequently took another 2 hours to move down Malet Street.
The other reason for the less than shuffling pace and squashed conditions was that, below Malet Street, people were forced into a narrow section which consisted of a pavement and a narrow strip of road. Traffic was waved on by police in the remaining wide section of road, the better to enforce the railings hemming them in. And the rest of the march was confined to one side of the road, rather than the whole road, which several hundred thousand people need in order to march in a comfortable manner.
It would be be considered cruelty to herd hundreds of thousands of animals in such confined spaces, and to force them to walk at an unbearably slow pace. Yet it was imposed on protesters last Thursday.
It would be a good idea if another organisation took up the coordination of these marches - eg. Arrow?
Comments
Hide the following 12 comments
hmm.. yes
22.11.2003 22:43
It is quite common to slow down a demo!
If the SWP have managed to learn getting to the end to hear the speakers isn't the only poiny of a demo that can only be a GOOD THING!
see before
Samba even slower
22.11.2003 23:12
But it was well worth it. We all had a great time.
What's the rush?
Not Rushing
Not that slow anyway
22.11.2003 23:30
The reason it took so long for the back of the march to leave Malet street was because there were so many people there. I assume the stewards were trying to slow people down to stop a potentially dangerous crush happening at bottlenecks.
mark
It's not a race!
23.11.2003 00:09
What does it matter how long it took?? If you just want to get to the end as quickly as possible, why even bother going on a march? Just get the tube to Charing Cross and you'll be first there!!
The longer it takes (within reason) the better, the more visible we are for longer.
Mercury Kev
Lots to say...
23.11.2003 00:55
1) Slow marches are slightly better, because they have an air of NVDA to them. If you march slowly, you can't be accused of sitting in the road, but you can have the same effect.
2) There was apparently a group of people lying in the end of Mallet Street at one point. Also, I was waiting patiently with the School Kids, and thousands of people kept pushing past. This didn't make matters easier, thats for sure.
3) 30,000 people decided they couldn't be bothered waiting to march, and walked straight to the Square, arriving by 2:30. How many more went after, I don't know.
4) There were considerable problems with the demo in Mallet Street, full stop. The constriction, I felt, wasn't a bad idea because often Mallet Street is really cramped full of people before a march starts, and at the end of the constriction, people can spread a bit. Basically, you can stand 20 wide in Mallet Street, but you can't march 20 wide in the next street, so the constriction cut the number of people trying to get out at any one moment, meaning a trickle of people spreading to take the width of the next street.
5) I'm guessing you went quite a bit ahead of me, because much of the route was full width when I did it. After the turn out of Mallet Street, we had full roads or half roads, with no real consistency. I counted us as being 100 people wide at one point. When we crossed the first bridge, the barriers had been pushed over and people were spreading across the bridge, and the pressure was eased tremendously.
6) At the end of Kingsway, the barriers were thrown down, and the width of the road was used. It seems that the Samba troup made this happen. This caused delays because the police called reinforcements, but it made life easier on the next section.
7) Let us all remember what November 20th was. It was one of those days when thousands of people turned up to a demonstration who weren't expected. The organisers said 100,000 beforehand and 300,000 after. York took 1 coach to Sept 27th (100k) and 3 this time, to my shock (and that was the first time I realised just how big it would be). The planning was done with the wrong figures. Both the Police and the Coalition and everyone else went to that demo expecting a 100k experience. The barriers were configured for a 100k demo. And then the British People got up and demonstrated.
I have never been on a demo which was so miss-calculated. Most of you have. It's called Feb 15th. This demo may have been smaller, but no less underestimated. The first and last national STWC demo's of this year had that same thing in common. Wow.
Rebel W
The march didn't hold up traffic
23.11.2003 10:22
a.walker
agree the march moved very quickly!
23.11.2003 10:52
the reason it took so bloody long to leave was that there were hundreds of thousands of people! simple (plus yes of course having only half the street to march along did slow the numbers able to leave at any point)
.
Give me a break. . .
23.11.2003 15:12
Malet Street is a perfectly good place for smaller demonstrations to start, but for 300,000 people it is a but small. I suspect the organisers couldn't have predicted such a massive turnout on a weekday.
I remember in the September demonstration before Febuary 15th having to wait for a couple of hours, we thought the police were holding up the demo - until someone went up front and found out that people had already arrived at the end and the reason for the hold-up was that there was 500,000 people. It was after this that they started having 2 assembly points.
While it is valid to criticise the SWP, this kind of nit-picking and snide comments are sectarian and offensive.
Wolf Tone 2
No way were there 300,000 people there! 100,000 maybe.
23.11.2003 16:00
Remember most people dont give a damn about politics so 100,000 is a surpisingly large number for any demo and a weekday demo absolutly astounding. The lat big week day demo was the TUC demo insupport of the miners in june 1992 which attracted 75,000. The Satruday later another demo by the TUC attracted 150,000.
Concerned
More importantly
23.11.2003 17:31
The march was riducously slow for the majority of the route. People continued to use one side of the road even when the other side had been closed off. People seem to unthinkingly obey the marshalling on the day. So I feel its a bit harsh to blame one party. On the other hand, a better deal should have been negotiated with the authorities beforehand, as the march appears to have had little impact.
Doopa
Get real. This demo was the tops !!!!!!!!
23.11.2003 21:05
This was the biggest week day demo in British history !
This was the biggest demo to protest at a visit of a state leader anywhere in the world.
This was the best way to finish off an historic year 2003 15th Feb - 20th Nov.
The SWP has been a vital part of the Stop the War movement, so perhaps a little credit where credits due, unless that makes you choke on your sectarian bile.
Bill Bo Bolshevik
Speed of the demo- some pros and cons
26.11.2003 12:56
is slower safer?
makes our presence more strongly felt
cons:
walking that slow made me ache for days
it was very frustrating
However, I wasn't there to have a good time or to be comfortable. If it had been snowing, or if it had been in the middle of summer, I would have been there. My room would have definitely been much more comfortable than any march, but that's not the point. How about we demolish everything in our path to create a uniform-width demo route?
Furat Al-Samaraie
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