smith&wesson gun bikes
pretty bike
pretty samba
bang my drum
into trafalgar square
samba in parliament square
pushme pullyou
outside downing street
flooding charing x road
loud samba
picadilly circus
criminal mass
as well as several loud sound systems, the 'rhythms of resistance' samba band took to trikes, rickshaws, roller-blades, and bikes, to provide a fantastic carnival soundtrack to the ride that had passers-by dancing in the streets.
apart from a few irate drivers, and, it has to be said, the daily mail-fed vitriol of a few stereotypical taxi drivers (though many were cool too), the response was generally good-natured considering the traffic havoc caused.
despite the threatening letter of the previous month, it seems the police had reconsidered their authoritarian stance, and provided a truly excellent and sensible facilitation of the ride, mainly consisting of calming down any drivers who tried to take the law into their own hands, and occasionally aiding blocking junctions as the mass passed (although the sheer size meant that they couldn't be at all relevant junctions at all times and much of this was left to cyclists themselves). legal observers reported no known arrests, and in fact virtually no trouble anywhere. the policing comprised just approximately 20 outriders on bicycles and one van following - there was some concern about the 'shoot-to-kill policy' when it was spotted that police bikes carried the logo of gun manufacturers 'smith&wesson', but thankfully there were no assassinations last night.
the route went slowly over waterloo bridge, along the strand, through the mall (taking it completely over at times), past buck house, and then down to parliament square, where the new 'serious organised crime act' legislation banning protest in and around the square is supposed to be in force.
it demonstrates the arbitrary, farcical nature of this law that on tuesday morning just two people with banners from campaigning group 'justice not vengeance' were arrested for a protest outside downing street, one of them possibly facing up to 51 weeks in prison for being an 'organiser', while last night, more than a thousand cyclists cleared the square of traffic, parked up, danced to the sound of the samba band, and used amplified sound systems to shout anti-war and anti-government slogans. there were no arrests!
in their own time, after about twenty minutes, the procession rode up whitehall, stopping outside downing street and holding up their bikes in the air in front of the gates, then on slowly up through trafalgar square and charing cross road to centrepoint, where crowds joined in the samba dancing in the streets for a while. heading west along oxford street, they flooded into the oxford circus junction, in what looked like a scene from the infamous mayday (2001?) when police kettled a huge crowd at this spot for many hours. last night however, the twenty police bicyclists just watched in amusement and helped stop the traffic while the colourful mob celebrated their freedom for a while before making their way down regent's street to piccadilly circus for another rest.
by now it was nearly half past ten, the mass had got a little split up, and everyone one was winding down. gradually the wheeled massive congregated off-road on the upper part of trafalgar square, set up the sound system, cracked open the beers and smokes, and had a post-mass party for a while. the police left, people began to drift away in to the night, and on to various parties, the rain started up, and a peaceful, empowering, celebratory experience was over for another month.
if you missed it and want to come along, the next one is the 25th november. if you came and enjoyed it (how could you not?), then see you all next month too.
more details on the www.criticalmasslondon.org.uk website
Comments
Hide the following 4 comments
CM Londonn site
29.10.2005 13:09
Lot's of people we spoke to ( and there were some of us on foot ) thought it an excellent idea. This includes tourists, bus drivers, passengers, etc etc.
Until people give up the idea of driving everywhere powered by the ICE then it is necessary. Furthermore - I don't think this is the nexus of the alienation you talk about. London already suffers from extreme alienation problems and this is one way of getting people together out in the streets enjoying themselves and communicating. Beat the clock ( into pieces )!
As I keep on having to say ( see also Arms fair/ anti-nuclear protests etc etc. ) Our ( everybody's ) future on this planet versus a few people being inconvenienced ( Climate chaos is a bit inconvenient wouldn't you say ) - No contest.
It was a shame they ran out of leaflets to explain the CM. Yes it was a too slow in places but then who expected this many bikes? Lots of people were there for the first time. Even some of the cops seemed to enjoy it at times ( though quite confused ) Who know what will happen at the next one?
Great to see people make the effort with their costumes, daleks, sound systems and sambas and decoration. Seems to me like a protest and celebration.
So cheer up Mr Website - don't let the negative comments of a few people ( who probably voted ( like a minority of the country did ) for Thatcher, Major and Blair - now THAT has inconvenienced me loads ) get you down.
I certainly didn't feel like a minority. Lets do it again.
.
CM london site
29.10.2005 16:49
the only aspect i would agree with is that we should be careful not to target 'bus only' routes like oxford street/oxford circus, and prefer to target junctions where private motorists are the majority.
but whomever runs this site really needs to pass it on soon to people with a more uplifting/optimistic/constructive viewpoint. after what may have been the largest ever (?) cm in the uk, it would be more appropriate to at least mention some of the positive aspects. eg. the fun of the samba band, the symbolic and practical challenge to the new s.o.c.a. legislation re protest around parliament, the wide range of people/ages/viewpoints of the hundreds and hundreds involved, the peaceful and co-operative self-policing of the ride, the many flyers explaining what the ride is about that were distributed, the amazing atmosphere and sheer fun of the whole thing, and the low-key, efficient and good-humoured policing that accompanied us.
the mainstream media has pretty much ignored this historic event - i'd have thought it appropriate for the website to put some effort into a positive slant on it.
normally i'd be flattered that one of my pics gets used for something else (the trafalgar square one above, used by the cmlondon site), but in this case i've asked the owner to remove it immediately as i certainly don't want to be associated with his pessimistic diatribe.
rikki
Can't believe the piece on CriticalMass London
30.10.2005 00:17
It was beautiful, l i b e r a t i n g ... and knackering.
Stopping in Parliament Sq was a real victory. After all the stress and harrassment we've received recently in the no protest zone - this was amazing!
Light Brigade
Some reservations
31.10.2005 16:01
That said, the majority of us needed no instruction. It certainly made me feel good to be alive and a human being. And how many events make you say that?
Keith