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: