National Demonstration: 5th August

The march was supposed to start at 12 noon, at hyde park. I arrived there 30 minutes late, not in a rush as these marches always take time to start properly. After following large throngs of people who looked like they were there for the demonstration, I emerged into hyde park to see vast numbers of people from all segments of British society, such as Arabs both young and old, ordinary English families, leftist and communist groups, trade unions and students. Coaches had come in from all 4 corners of Britain to this march. One doctor of Pakistani origin had told me beforehand how lots of his relatives up in Bradford ( which is many miles away in the north of England ) were all coming by coach to the demonstration.

It was obvious that this was going to be much, much larger than the last few marches/protests we've had in London, and marchers just kept on coming and coming. The march took us via the American embassy ( surrounded by hordes of stormtroopers, I mean police ), Picadilly Circus and 10 Downing street. There was a barrier separating us from the segment of road parallel to the black fence of 10 downing street, yet this did not stop large crowds gathering there to shout out against our beloved Prime Minister ( shouting slogans like "ceasefire now", "shame on you", "we are all hezbollah" ). It got slightly heated, with the police coming closer to the barrier and forming a line, while some protestors threw children's shoes onto the road in front of the barrier.
Next was the cenotaph, a WW2 memorial just outside 10 downing street. Many protestors brought children's shoes to leave there, as a symbol of all the children of Lebanon and Palestine who had been killed. The march ended eventually at Parliament square ( where Big Ben is located ), where we heard may stirring speeches from anti-war British politicians, trade union leaders and others ( for more detail see http://leninology.blogspot.com/2006/08/at-least-100000-march-against-us.html )

Here are some photos of the march:

Note how you cannot see the back of the crowd! 

Hyde Park 

For the children of Lebanon and Palestine 

Big Ben 

Parliament Square 

Parliament Square 

For the children.

Hyde Park 

Worldwide demonstrations for Lebanon

From the Lebanese blogger forum.

A list of worldwide demonstrations against Israel's criminal actions in the Middle East. Make them if you can.

Leafleting tips

I tried leafleting a couple of times for various demonstrations. While you can offload a fairly significant number of leaflets, most of the time people just fly by you in a rush, not even bothering to make eye contact ( just like I do when some dude in the street is trying to foist something onto me )

A more effective strategy for leafleting is to stick 'em onto car windshields ( underneath the window-wipers ). I intend to attack my supermarket car park tomorrow. Also, you can post 'em through people's letterboxes. No way can they escape that.

EMERGENCY NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION

Calling all Arabs!

Join the national demonstrationSaturday 5 August: Assemble 12 Noon Speakers Corner, Hyde Park, London. March to Parliament Square for rally.
For more details:
www.stopwar.org.uk
www.palestinecampaign.org


Leaflet for the National Demonstration

Arab Activism

This is meant to draw together Arabs who live in London, who want to become more politically active in what is happening in the Arab world, so as to make a difference.