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Edinburgh march breaks free, roams (and runs) through town

Carwil | 06.07.2005 16:40 | G8 2005 | Globalisation

After a relatively slow midday marching up and down Prince St., the anti-G8 march in Edinburgh broke free with the help of a samba band and several shifts in momentum. Suddenly more upbeat, active, and growing it ran up and down hills, melted through police lines, and ran through downtown (and is still moving as of this writing).

EDINBURGH (IMC-UK)--Angry locals? Dedicated fighters to debt cancellation and an end to war? Out of town anarchists? In the end largest roving gathering of people against the G8 in Scotland's capital today combined them all into an upbeat but militant mass that proved itself able to outmaneuvre the cops throughout the late afternoon.

The marchwas started by folks who were denied busses to the official march on Glen Eagles. They, joined by others, spent the better part of mid-day moving up and down (once each way) Princes St., one of the main shopping streets in Edinburgh. Despite often being surrounded by police, it kept moving by three tactics: demanding to march loudly and with big numbers, pushing forward through or against police lines, and refroming continuously on the far side of those lines.

But despite being to prevent the arrest of several people who were singled out, and forcing the cops to repeatedly concede to our right to move, it was stuck on a five-block stretch of Princes St. for much of the afternoon. As the march straggled back to Hanover St. behind a line of foot-dragging police, it seemed it might stay that way.

But between a samba, interested bystanders, outraged people pestering the police from outside, and the fact that the police cordon around the march was never compele, a new dynamic emerged. People filled in the block along the art museum, which blended easily between a standoff with police and a samba concert.

A half hour later, the cordon was nearly empty, but the musicians departure shifted the mood, consolidated the crowd and turned the mood towards confrontation. With Hanover St. blockade by metal fences, a line of riot cops advance, backed by police on horseback. The front ranks were nearly all seated and the loudest and most consistent chant was "peaceful protest". Simultaneously, little provocations (an attempted arrest, the police inching forwards) brought outrage and brought in people angry at the police presence in their city.

Eventually the crowd wound its way up the mound, only to push downwards again. Walking backwards downhill in a single line in front of hundreds if not a thousand protesters the police could not hold them back, and the first of several runs took hold. While a successful police line kept protesters out of the train station, people ran up curving streets and stairways before regrouping, mostly surrounded and South Bridge and High St. Here dogs were brought out to reinforce police lines, but the only option was to redirect the crowd along South Bridge.

There was a lot more running, mixed with chants ("Bush, Blair, Terrorists", "Drop the debt", "Open up the borders, close the group of eight"), bangs on the metal on the walls, joy and directing the crowd different ways--especially on the part of local teenagers. Corporate photographers raced to keep up. While shop shutters came down, many on the sidelines were sympathetic and happy.

Police grabbed and pushed a number of people, sometimes threatening arrest, but mostly keeping the people they targetted within the group--an ominous sign of what they expect is to come. Exit was still possible (if a bit of a challenge) and spirits remained high at the time I left.

/this is my quick factual summary, i'll write thought on tactics and the experience soon/

Carwil
- e-mail: carwil@falseignorance.info


Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

Thanks for the update!

06.07.2005 17:16

Thanks for the update! Finally, some good news!

EH


Stop the madness

06.07.2005 19:10

Where did they find this guy? as an educated citizen of this city i find all of your actions laughable. Firstly how can the world leaders expect to take your opions seriously when you can't convey your views and opions in a relaxed, educated and positive manner as 225,000 people did on saturday. Secondly having mixed with you anarchists, eco warriors and other assorted misfits throughout the week i fail to understand why you can't use soap or water - you all smell. Get to grips with looking after yourselves then concentrate on making our world a better place! Thirdly you can't fight for chips - i hope the police give you a fucking shoeing!

Pass Shaggy the Baggy so he can roll scoobie a doobie!


get educated - stop the g8 madness!

07.07.2005 22:48

There was a very good reason for this protest - that people were prevented from attending one in Auchterarder which had been organised for months, dictated to by a repressive police force who took it upon themselves to define what kind of protest would be allowed. This sort of dictation (in which the police decide what kind of protest is valid) is just one reason why Make Poverty History was not enough. There are others, but I think the most important was MPH`s failure for the most part to convey the issues involved, which makes your comment about ´education´ somewhat ironic. At its worst the MPH demo felt like a cheerleading party for Gordon Brown, rather than an `educated` political statement. I have heard from many MPH wristband wearers who don´t seem to have the first idea about global politics. Waving a placard saying ´end poverty´ is well-meaning, but lacks an analysis of what might make that happen or who is to blame. Most (not all) of those who were prepared to stay in a muddy field for a week (thus not showering), in order to make more of a statement, have done a bit more background reading, exploring and learning about the issues. If you would like to follow their example please see the page on this website entitled ´G8: Why are people protesting?` and take it from there. After a bit of reading perhaps you will understand why there are more important issues in the world than sweaty armpits, but that doesn`t make them obligatory, simply incidental to a week`s camping with lots to do. Agree or disagree with our analyses of world poverty, but I hope at least this week will inspire you to come up with better arguments than that!

a sweaty anarchist


stinky

08.07.2005 16:17

Stop the madness author...is Queen Elisabeth? ...or Prince Andrew?
she/he must clean her/his way of thinking and action

perogrullo


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