everyone looked scared. my hoodie and sunglasses can’t have helped.
everyone on the tube knew what was going on today... everyone knew about the riots. they had, after all been in full swing now for well over 2 hours.
i was, by all accounts late.
the tube pulled up at charring cross station and i began the long walk down the labyrinthian tunnels, furiously imagining the consequences of heavy-handed police tactics and conjuring up alibis in my head.
not that i needed them of course. but, faced with the prospect of a thousand scared, angry police officers it’s hard not to imagine worst case scenarios.
i pictured a member of the territorial support group grilling me on my presence at the demo...
“what officer? no, i’m a journalist.. a peacefull observer. i’m not a trouble-maker. i’m here to observe.
I’m not well, i don’t want to get hit, i’m scared...”
shit... get a grip man. what good is that going to? all you’ll inspire is some sort of sarcastic quip about ‘being a brave little boy’ and then pushed into the fray with the rest of the scumbags.
no... nothing for it but to join the throng and try to steer clear of trouble.
trafalgar square was ominously empty.... clearly i was not with the masses.
still, as good a place as any to get an impression of what was going on. the electricity in the air was stifling... people with placards and crazy expressions on their faces sidled past listlessly. no-one seemed to know exactly what was going on and, at this point, there didn’t seem to be a great deal of organisation.
later i would see the weird spectacle of a full blown rally on the victoria embankment and witness the effect of a thousand strange students bellowing at a rabble-rousing gang of anarchists... a horrific sight. right now though... nothing.
just as well though i suppose. i still had to go into uni and back before truly getting involved.
i walked around for a bit, through westminster and over charring cross bridge to waterloo.. marvelling at the garrisons of police guarding any building they considered smashable..
then onto elephant
…..
2 hours later i was back in westminster.
this time my exit at charring cross had led me down to westminster bridge via the afore-mentioned rally...
thousands of protesters now... all angry at their cohort’s being ‘kettled’ down at parliament square.
as the vote came in- the ayes had won it- the crowd turned insane. people rushed the police with missiles and tannoys. chants flew around directed at the tories but, ultimately, directed at the police..
and then.. well.. nothing. the cold got the better of me and i left.
..
i would later hear of horrific skirmishes between protesters and police. a man dragged from a wheelchair, a full blown riot in oxford street... a mounted charge on unarmed civilians...
but.. well, i didn’t see that. all i saw was a load of angry people and a load of scared, but prepared coppers.
that and democracy proving, once again, that it doesn’t really work.
the result of all this is unclear. mass demonstrations like this only really serve to bolster requests from the police for more powers to dispell crowds. the anti-globalisation riots of the early noughties led to the massive erosion of civil liberties.
i suppose its inevitable that these clashes will have a similar effect..
all that’s left now is to see whether the people of london side with the disenchanted youth or decide, once again that these protesters are just angry, lost lunatics rather than equals under law.
judging the by the media today it would appear they’re going with the latter..
everyone on the tube knew what was going on today... everyone knew about the riots. they had, after all been in full swing now for well over 2 hours.
i was, by all accounts late.
the tube pulled up at charring cross station and i began the long walk down the labyrinthian tunnels, furiously imagining the consequences of heavy-handed police tactics and conjuring up alibis in my head.
not that i needed them of course. but, faced with the prospect of a thousand scared, angry police officers it’s hard not to imagine worst case scenarios.
i pictured a member of the territorial support group grilling me on my presence at the demo...
“what officer? no, i’m a journalist.. a peacefull observer. i’m not a trouble-maker. i’m here to observe.
I’m not well, i don’t want to get hit, i’m scared...”
shit... get a grip man. what good is that going to? all you’ll inspire is some sort of sarcastic quip about ‘being a brave little boy’ and then pushed into the fray with the rest of the scumbags.
no... nothing for it but to join the throng and try to steer clear of trouble.
trafalgar square was ominously empty.... clearly i was not with the masses.
still, as good a place as any to get an impression of what was going on. the electricity in the air was stifling... people with placards and crazy expressions on their faces sidled past listlessly. no-one seemed to know exactly what was going on and, at this point, there didn’t seem to be a great deal of organisation.
later i would see the weird spectacle of a full blown rally on the victoria embankment and witness the effect of a thousand strange students bellowing at a rabble-rousing gang of anarchists... a horrific sight. right now though... nothing.
just as well though i suppose. i still had to go into uni and back before truly getting involved.
i walked around for a bit, through westminster and over charring cross bridge to waterloo.. marvelling at the garrisons of police guarding any building they considered smashable..
then onto elephant
…..
2 hours later i was back in westminster.
this time my exit at charring cross had led me down to westminster bridge via the afore-mentioned rally...
thousands of protesters now... all angry at their cohort’s being ‘kettled’ down at parliament square.
as the vote came in- the ayes had won it- the crowd turned insane. people rushed the police with missiles and tannoys. chants flew around directed at the tories but, ultimately, directed at the police..
and then.. well.. nothing. the cold got the better of me and i left.
..
i would later hear of horrific skirmishes between protesters and police. a man dragged from a wheelchair, a full blown riot in oxford street... a mounted charge on unarmed civilians...
but.. well, i didn’t see that. all i saw was a load of angry people and a load of scared, but prepared coppers.
that and democracy proving, once again, that it doesn’t really work.
the result of all this is unclear. mass demonstrations like this only really serve to bolster requests from the police for more powers to dispell crowds. the anti-globalisation riots of the early noughties led to the massive erosion of civil liberties.
i suppose its inevitable that these clashes will have a similar effect..
all that’s left now is to see whether the people of london side with the disenchanted youth or decide, once again that these protesters are just angry, lost lunatics rather than equals under law.
judging the by the media today it would appear they’re going with the latter..
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