We did it! About 100 people turned up at Parliament Square, each with their own particular issue to protest about, and there were some very amusing issues too. Some memorable ones were: the planetary status of Pluto, free chocolate for pensioners and calls for the exiling of Robbie Williams. My protest against the surveillance state was somewhat less surreal, but in keeping with the spirit of the event I did include my objection to microchips on wheelie bins (I’m not kidding).
Queuing at Charing Cross police station to get permission
It was touch and go whether I’d have the permission from the police that I’d applied for the previous week. As it was, my letter arrived the day of the protest. The atmosphere was very good natured, in fact it was the most fun I’ve had at a demonstration.
Permission to protest
The police were as well behaved as the protesters and wisely kept their distance (after all this was entirely legal). I met up with some of my fellow bloggers; Rachel who was rightly demanding an inquiry into the July 7 London bombings and also protesting against crap laws, Tim who wants Tony Blair to pay him the £2000 he owes him, and Justin who wants everything legalised and everything banned.
Brian Haw was in fine form encouraging the protesters to make plenty of noise and making good use of his loudspeaker (he needs a new one incidentally, one that can be powered from a car battery so if anyone can help out…).
The mass lone protest was organised by the well-known comedian/activist Mark Thomas and there are other similar events planned soon to highlight the stupidity of the SCOPA laws (.pdf).
We protested for an hour and then made our way to the Red Lion pub for plenty of liquid refreshment (cheers everyone) before staggering off home.
Tags: Mass Lone Demonstration
