(no subject)
I spent my Saturday at the March for the Alternative. There are a lot of varying accounts in the media, including some fabrications so wild they would be funny - if the misinformation wasn't so dangerous. I can't offer much commentary, but I want to give an account of our day, partly to record for my own records how I'm feeling at the moment, and partly so that you folk have some evidence that you can (hopefully) trust.
Getting There
Knowing the likelihood of varying plans, and the ridiculous cost of public transport, we opted to drive in. We parked at a familiar spot by Angel, and took the tube down to Waterloo. It was clear we were going to the protest - "practical" dress, rucksacks, a rolled-up flag and a placard (We opted for: "Cut bonuses not education") - so on the way we were asked multiple times by other marchers where the best place to meet was. We joined the UK Uncut group by the National Gallery at about 11.30. We had trouble guessing numbers, but we think that at midday when we set off to join the main march, there were 500-1000 of us.
The Main March
We stayed with the main march for about an hour or so. The atmosphere was really energetic, and very friendly. I noticed that there wasn't much chanting, which I think is one of the problems when the march is made up of groups with slightly different motives. It was lively, but fairly sanitised. Friendly, but not much real unity. After a while, we were informed by the group at the head of the UK Uncut bloc that we weren't making good progress, and so a decision was made to break away from the main group so that we could head to Oxford Street for the planned 2pm occupations. So, several hundred of us set off another way. This is where we started to get a bit more lively, as it was mostly just UK Uncut folk. We marched, and we chanted, and we marched some more. We began to get word that the police were blocking the way to Oxford Street, so the group started splitting to find alternate routes. We didn't want to go to Oxford Street anyway, so we started zig-zagging our way to Soho.
The Comedy Club
By the time we got to Soho square, we'd been marching solidly for two hours, so we took 10 minutes to have a sit-down and a sandwich. The group that turned up for the comedy club occupation was way too large (200, possibly) to actually have an occupation, so it was staged in the grassy square itself. The performances were witty, topical, and yes, funny. But it seemed that it was frequently dark/gallows humour. The situation felt too serious for anything lighthearted. We got to see Johann Hari and Mark Thomas, which was fairly awesome.
Oxford Circus
After the comedy, the entire group made their way to Oxford Circus, where we joined the thousands who had been protesting all along the street (14 occupations, I'm told). Topshop was a mess, really. I can't remember if there was smashed glass, but there were paintball splatters everywhere. We could hear tribal-style dance music playing from just in front of the shop (possibly by the percussion band), and the whole atmosphere was that of a giant street party. At around 3.30, cards were passed around through the crowd, bearing a coloured dot and the words "This is your colour. Follow it". Shortly after, some coloured flags were raised, and began moving. The atmosphere by now was one of jubliant excitement as thousands of protesters walked, ran, chanted, whistled and shouted our way through London streets, on our way to a secret destination. The chants came with more purpose now, more unity.
While slightly juvenile, having several thousand people marching through London singing "You can stick your Royal wedding up your arse" to the tune of "she'll be coming round the mountain", voices echoing off the monuments - that was pretty damn entertaining.
Fortnum & Masons
We arrived at Fortnum & Masons only couple of minutes after the first UK Uncut folk went in, and by that time there were police in front of the gate. It's very difficult to summarise everything that happened outside in just a paragraph. Every now and then, there would be a push towards the gates, more people trying to get in past the police. Some succeeded - most didn't. Slowly, more police arrived, but it was never a huge number. After a half hour or so, the majority of the people at the front were the 'black bloc'. They were easily identified - all black outfits, usually a hoodie pulled up, and frequently a face covering - a balaclava or a scarf. Some of them had flags in black, or black and red. Beer cans were also more common, and they were quite willing to throw the empties at the police. On many occasions I also saw them throwing sticks (presumably from broken placards) at the police. The atmosphere seemed very divided, between solidarity with the peaceful protesters inside, and aggression towards the police. It's worth noting that we were outside for a couple of hours, and during that time I didn't see any violence from the police. Considering what they were putting up with at this point, it seemed very strange that they did so little.
After a little while, people started climbing up onto the flat awning above the entrance. To do this, they had to climb up onto a windowsill, and then on top of a fancy lightpost, onto the first-floor railings, and then navigate the very narrow passage between the railings and the building before they could climb onto the roof. All in all, pretty dangerous, and they did a fair bit of damage to the top of the lamp post (the thin metal wasn't meant to be stood on - repeatedly). The police did nothing to stop it, which I thought was very strange. Once up, people threw banners up for them to display, they wrote messages on the walls (in easily-washable chalk), and cheer-led the crowd in solidarity.
Eventually though, we felt that the aggressive crowd was bound to lead to aggression from the police, and so we moved back through the crowd to the other side of the street, to have a bit of a sit-down and a sandwich. Once again, this lasted for only about 10 minutes before a line of police started to move down and clear the street.
Kettles
For a half-hour or so, we found ourselves caught up in one kettle or another. Mostly they were fairly loose, and designed to eventually clear the street. We decided to start moving away from F&M, and eventually after one dramatic break through the line of a kettle, we found ourselves free between two kettle lines. The escapees scattered down any available side streets, and we ended up in piccadilly circus.
Piccadilly Circus
In a word: chaos. The traffic lights and other posts around the centre had tape wrapped around them to create a circle in the middle. Some of the entrances were blocked, some weren't, and this varied all the time. Every now and then there would be a loud bang, and this came from various sources - fireworks (sometimes attached to lamp posts or traffic lights), smoke bombs, or flares. By this point, it was starting to get a little bit cold. The atmosphere had changed, and it was dominated by the 'black bloc'. The chants were mostly anti-police rather than anything political. It was getting on towards 6.30 I think, and we'd been on our feet pretty much constantly since 11am, so we decided to call it a day.
A break
We left Piccadilly easily, and wandered until we found a pub that had a couple of seats. It was late, so we decided to have dinner in Chinatown. Naturally, we continued to follow events on Twitter. We learned that the UK Uncut group had left F&M, and had promptly been arrested. We also heard that a lot of people had dispersed, and that those remaining had mostly moved to Trafalgar square. Feeling revitalised after a sit down, a drink, and a decent meal, we decided to see what was going on. This was now at about 9pm.
Trafalgar Square
On the way, just before we got to the square, we passed a few police vans, full of police. At the time we thought that they were preparing to go home. We now suspect that they were waiting.
What we found in Trafalgar Square was basically a party. There was probably a few hundred people left by now, scattered across the whole area. There were a few small bonfires (really small - the largest we saw was only a couple of feet across), and probably about 5 or 6 types of music. The percussion band was playing some fast-paced tribal music, with a crowd dancing around. Another, smaller group of drummers had a fair following too. At the base of Nelson's Column someone had set up a fairly decent soundsystem playing drum-n-bass and dubstep. There were quite a few people gathered around, and lots sitting on the column itself, dancing and chatting. It was a party. There was no damage to anything. The people gathered there had come from lots of different protest groups, and most didn't even know each other - there was just a friendly vibe. There was no violence, aggression, or anything intimidating. I'm fairly sure that members of the public would have had no problems crossing the square. We stayed for about half an hour, relaxing, enjoying the friendly vibe, and dancing to various music.
I feel it's really important to make this point, because no more than 10-15 minutes after we left, the police arrived, and it descended into a riot. Some of the media are trying to portray the people who were in that square as violent, which is most definitely not the case. There are various reports as to what started the violence, but it seems clear that the police were waiting for it. A helicopter with a spotlight, and a multitude of police vans arriving at the *exact* moment that everything seemed to kick off? That's not coincidence - that's deliberately orchestrating violence, probably for the purpose of good headlines.
Aftermath
So, it now appears that the UK Uncut people occupying F&M had agreed to leave the premises, as the police had guaranteed them safety through the crowd outside. There is now fairly damning evidence that they were tricked into leaving, so that they could be arrested. The police arrested 201 people that day. By the following day, they had charged 149 people. 138 of those were occupiers of F&M. That means that despite the apparent headline-grabbing violence, and the actual violence/criminal damage we witnessed, and committed throughout the day, only 11 people were charged with violent offences. 138 peaceful demonstrators.. 11 charged with anything else.
You really have to wonder about the priorities of the police.
Getting There
Knowing the likelihood of varying plans, and the ridiculous cost of public transport, we opted to drive in. We parked at a familiar spot by Angel, and took the tube down to Waterloo. It was clear we were going to the protest - "practical" dress, rucksacks, a rolled-up flag and a placard (We opted for: "Cut bonuses not education") - so on the way we were asked multiple times by other marchers where the best place to meet was. We joined the UK Uncut group by the National Gallery at about 11.30. We had trouble guessing numbers, but we think that at midday when we set off to join the main march, there were 500-1000 of us.
The Main March
We stayed with the main march for about an hour or so. The atmosphere was really energetic, and very friendly. I noticed that there wasn't much chanting, which I think is one of the problems when the march is made up of groups with slightly different motives. It was lively, but fairly sanitised. Friendly, but not much real unity. After a while, we were informed by the group at the head of the UK Uncut bloc that we weren't making good progress, and so a decision was made to break away from the main group so that we could head to Oxford Street for the planned 2pm occupations. So, several hundred of us set off another way. This is where we started to get a bit more lively, as it was mostly just UK Uncut folk. We marched, and we chanted, and we marched some more. We began to get word that the police were blocking the way to Oxford Street, so the group started splitting to find alternate routes. We didn't want to go to Oxford Street anyway, so we started zig-zagging our way to Soho.
The Comedy Club
By the time we got to Soho square, we'd been marching solidly for two hours, so we took 10 minutes to have a sit-down and a sandwich. The group that turned up for the comedy club occupation was way too large (200, possibly) to actually have an occupation, so it was staged in the grassy square itself. The performances were witty, topical, and yes, funny. But it seemed that it was frequently dark/gallows humour. The situation felt too serious for anything lighthearted. We got to see Johann Hari and Mark Thomas, which was fairly awesome.
Oxford Circus
After the comedy, the entire group made their way to Oxford Circus, where we joined the thousands who had been protesting all along the street (14 occupations, I'm told). Topshop was a mess, really. I can't remember if there was smashed glass, but there were paintball splatters everywhere. We could hear tribal-style dance music playing from just in front of the shop (possibly by the percussion band), and the whole atmosphere was that of a giant street party. At around 3.30, cards were passed around through the crowd, bearing a coloured dot and the words "This is your colour. Follow it". Shortly after, some coloured flags were raised, and began moving. The atmosphere by now was one of jubliant excitement as thousands of protesters walked, ran, chanted, whistled and shouted our way through London streets, on our way to a secret destination. The chants came with more purpose now, more unity.
While slightly juvenile, having several thousand people marching through London singing "You can stick your Royal wedding up your arse" to the tune of "she'll be coming round the mountain", voices echoing off the monuments - that was pretty damn entertaining.
Fortnum & Masons
We arrived at Fortnum & Masons only couple of minutes after the first UK Uncut folk went in, and by that time there were police in front of the gate. It's very difficult to summarise everything that happened outside in just a paragraph. Every now and then, there would be a push towards the gates, more people trying to get in past the police. Some succeeded - most didn't. Slowly, more police arrived, but it was never a huge number. After a half hour or so, the majority of the people at the front were the 'black bloc'. They were easily identified - all black outfits, usually a hoodie pulled up, and frequently a face covering - a balaclava or a scarf. Some of them had flags in black, or black and red. Beer cans were also more common, and they were quite willing to throw the empties at the police. On many occasions I also saw them throwing sticks (presumably from broken placards) at the police. The atmosphere seemed very divided, between solidarity with the peaceful protesters inside, and aggression towards the police. It's worth noting that we were outside for a couple of hours, and during that time I didn't see any violence from the police. Considering what they were putting up with at this point, it seemed very strange that they did so little.
After a little while, people started climbing up onto the flat awning above the entrance. To do this, they had to climb up onto a windowsill, and then on top of a fancy lightpost, onto the first-floor railings, and then navigate the very narrow passage between the railings and the building before they could climb onto the roof. All in all, pretty dangerous, and they did a fair bit of damage to the top of the lamp post (the thin metal wasn't meant to be stood on - repeatedly). The police did nothing to stop it, which I thought was very strange. Once up, people threw banners up for them to display, they wrote messages on the walls (in easily-washable chalk), and cheer-led the crowd in solidarity.
Eventually though, we felt that the aggressive crowd was bound to lead to aggression from the police, and so we moved back through the crowd to the other side of the street, to have a bit of a sit-down and a sandwich. Once again, this lasted for only about 10 minutes before a line of police started to move down and clear the street.
Kettles
For a half-hour or so, we found ourselves caught up in one kettle or another. Mostly they were fairly loose, and designed to eventually clear the street. We decided to start moving away from F&M, and eventually after one dramatic break through the line of a kettle, we found ourselves free between two kettle lines. The escapees scattered down any available side streets, and we ended up in piccadilly circus.
Piccadilly Circus
In a word: chaos. The traffic lights and other posts around the centre had tape wrapped around them to create a circle in the middle. Some of the entrances were blocked, some weren't, and this varied all the time. Every now and then there would be a loud bang, and this came from various sources - fireworks (sometimes attached to lamp posts or traffic lights), smoke bombs, or flares. By this point, it was starting to get a little bit cold. The atmosphere had changed, and it was dominated by the 'black bloc'. The chants were mostly anti-police rather than anything political. It was getting on towards 6.30 I think, and we'd been on our feet pretty much constantly since 11am, so we decided to call it a day.
A break
We left Piccadilly easily, and wandered until we found a pub that had a couple of seats. It was late, so we decided to have dinner in Chinatown. Naturally, we continued to follow events on Twitter. We learned that the UK Uncut group had left F&M, and had promptly been arrested. We also heard that a lot of people had dispersed, and that those remaining had mostly moved to Trafalgar square. Feeling revitalised after a sit down, a drink, and a decent meal, we decided to see what was going on. This was now at about 9pm.
Trafalgar Square
On the way, just before we got to the square, we passed a few police vans, full of police. At the time we thought that they were preparing to go home. We now suspect that they were waiting.
What we found in Trafalgar Square was basically a party. There was probably a few hundred people left by now, scattered across the whole area. There were a few small bonfires (really small - the largest we saw was only a couple of feet across), and probably about 5 or 6 types of music. The percussion band was playing some fast-paced tribal music, with a crowd dancing around. Another, smaller group of drummers had a fair following too. At the base of Nelson's Column someone had set up a fairly decent soundsystem playing drum-n-bass and dubstep. There were quite a few people gathered around, and lots sitting on the column itself, dancing and chatting. It was a party. There was no damage to anything. The people gathered there had come from lots of different protest groups, and most didn't even know each other - there was just a friendly vibe. There was no violence, aggression, or anything intimidating. I'm fairly sure that members of the public would have had no problems crossing the square. We stayed for about half an hour, relaxing, enjoying the friendly vibe, and dancing to various music.
I feel it's really important to make this point, because no more than 10-15 minutes after we left, the police arrived, and it descended into a riot. Some of the media are trying to portray the people who were in that square as violent, which is most definitely not the case. There are various reports as to what started the violence, but it seems clear that the police were waiting for it. A helicopter with a spotlight, and a multitude of police vans arriving at the *exact* moment that everything seemed to kick off? That's not coincidence - that's deliberately orchestrating violence, probably for the purpose of good headlines.
Aftermath
So, it now appears that the UK Uncut people occupying F&M had agreed to leave the premises, as the police had guaranteed them safety through the crowd outside. There is now fairly damning evidence that they were tricked into leaving, so that they could be arrested. The police arrested 201 people that day. By the following day, they had charged 149 people. 138 of those were occupiers of F&M. That means that despite the apparent headline-grabbing violence, and the actual violence/criminal damage we witnessed, and committed throughout the day, only 11 people were charged with violent offences. 138 peaceful demonstrators.. 11 charged with anything else.
You really have to wonder about the priorities of the police.