Blair out

I got back from the protest in Parliament Square at about ten tonight, and discovered that not only are the missiles raining down on Iraq, but Celtic goals were also raining down on Liverpool. So much for the little ray of joy I was hoping for. Still, least the demo was good — I got there at 5.30, despite Whitehall being blocked by a line of police officers (one of whom had clearly wolfed down a whole bottle of unpleasant bastard pills — I made a point of being very friendly and polite when asking about an alternate route). There were quite a few thousand people in the Square, with lots more coming and going all the time.

By 7pm the place was packed, I’d guess about 6000 people. I’ve been reading reports that a lot of people weren’t allowed in — don’t know if there’s any truth in that, but most of the entrances/exits to the square were blocked off by police. Heard a few good speeches (according to a National Union of Journalists chap, today 270 local newspapers issued a statement saying that they would no longer be publishing any more anti-war letters, articles or photographs… what happened to the principle of fair, unbiased reporting?), chanted a bit (it really is great to hear thousands of people shouting ‘Blair Out!’ at the Houses of Parliament, even if he was in Brussels).

Greenpeace projected massive slogans and images against the side of the Treasury (?). The two massive cranes currently towering over the building work nearby had surveillance cameras attached to them, and kept swinging around to monitor the protestors. Then, in the strangest moment of the evening, one of the cranes swung round over the square and lowered down its, er, hook thingy in a vain attempt to block the projections. Christ, talk about over-sensitive! What with the police helicopter hovering overhead, mounted police line, the ground vibrating from the tube trains, the drumming, chanting etc., it was quite electric.

I arrived on me todd after a business meeting (is todd ‘todd’ or ‘tod’? Where does that expression come from? Anyone?), but bumped into Alison and Phil, so stopped to chat with them for a while before toddling off at about 8pm in search of food.

The policing seemed a bit more aggressive than was necessary, and I was man-handled as I left, despite the fact that I was obviously leaving — quietly, peacefully, on my own, on the pavement. Still, apparently it was a lot worse earlier in the afternoon, when a thousand or so striking school kids descended on Whitehall. Seems a quite a few children — in their uniforms — were punched and pulled away by the hair etc. Guess the police aren’t used to dealing with civil disobedience by minors. One 14 year old boy was hospitalised by the police (too tired to post link, but it’s reported on the Guardian’s site). As one of the speakers at the demo said, what sort of democracy do we live in when Tony Blair needs mounted riot police to protect him from protesting school children? And speaking of the Honourable Member for Texas South, his message to the nation tonight just makes me want to puke. National unity? In your dreams, Tony. At least he’s looking increasingly haggard — with a bit of luck, the big march in London on Saturday will speed up his demise.

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