Down with this sort of thing!

[grok_mctanys]

It appears that, having had all that political stuff pass me by in my student years, now at the age of *cough* *mumble* I've decided to go on my first ever protest - the Pirate Party Rally for Freedoms and Liberties in Manchester on Sunday, because Edward Snowden’s leaks on PRISM, TEMPORA and GCHQ really do affect us all. It’s time that we started

Comments

[little_frank]

Take video recordings of any police harassment. Make sure someone knows exactly where you are, pref. have people you trust with you at all times. Have some food and water on you in case of kettling. Make a big sign, and do some shouting and waving on my behalf too! :-)

[grok_mctanys]

Video recorder - great idea! Leaving mobile phone at home, obviously, but I have the mini-cam I bought for cycling/skiing that I could take. Not to wear all the time, as my fellow demonstrators at an anti-surveillance rally might not appreciate that, but in case of anything interesting happening. Must remember to scrub it of any existing data first.

Thanks for the food and water tip. Had thought I'd just grab snacks from steet vendors, but having backup rations would be good.

Not so sure on the big sign, shouting, or waving. Was planning on keeping my head down for my first time out, and primarily being an extra body to add to the crowd.

[little_frank]

Oh. I assumed you'd take your phone. You might need to ring someone.

[grok_mctanys]

Take a personally identifying device which can be used to prove I was in a particular place, at any time after the event (because your location, gathered from the cell towers your phone is in range of, which the telcos keep indefinitely and share freely with the government, is "only metadata") to a demonstration against the surveillance state?

[little_frank]

P.S. Yay! Go you! And thank you.