A very brief summary of the day
The Smash NATO protest, timed to coincide with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Edinburgh, had been planned to start with a text message notification of the starting point of the march. Unfortunately technical problems prevented this from going out to people, so those marginally in-the-know assembled at the west end of the meadows unsure of what was going on, and anyone less clued in simply didn't get there.
At around 10:50am perhaps 30 people had gathered at the west end of the meadows. We were approached by two people who identified themselves as plain clothes police officers. So, rumbled already, we exchanged pleasantries with the plain clothes officers, a third of which arrived shortly after the first two.
Predictably the friendly 'facilitate your demo' plain clothes officers were followed around 10 minutes later by three vans full of the regular yellow shiny jacket police mob. Their phalanx filed towards us and surrounded the masked ninja faction (which was the overwhelming majority of our by then 40 or 50). After this the ninjas suffered a predictable martyrdom, with affronts to personal space, barely provoked destruction of the sound system, and all that accompanies this game.
Eventually, perhaps fearing being kettled, perhaps seeing the futility of these scuffles in a situation where we were practically outnumbered, the demo dispersed across the Meadows in a disorderly retreat. Perhaps five or ten went to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), where the Parliamentary Assembly was taking place, and held banners. Over the next hour and a half those who had dispersed in the other direction across the meadows made their way in dribs and drabs to the EICC.
The demo ended outside the EICC with a small crowd of perhaps 40 people. There was a little shoving of reinforced banners towards the police, but otherwise the majority of the crowd didn't show much interest in macho posturing.
Comments
Re: Smash NATO - A brief summary of the day
By Luther Blisset
Correction!
The demo did not end with the 40-50 people at the EICC. The big strong banners turned up and we walked out into the street and were promptly forced back onto the pavement for "blocking the road" which the police then proceeded to do themselves. There was some minor pushing and shoving mainly from the side of the cops.
After avoiding an attempt by lothian and borders finest to effectivly kettle us in we just walked through the adjecent car park and started a small but energetic march down lothian road and princess street ,chanting hard.
One chant was "Your all shopping, while bombs are dropping!", which seemed to make some happy consumers turn away in shame. There were also some positive responses from passing cars.
It then ended outside the forest cafe, where the FIT promptly proceeded to film and photograph. They were overheard debating amongst themselves whether to bother carrying on filming as they had filmed everyone but were told by their superior to "carry on anyway" as they didn't know what could kick off.
The police who had accompanied the march also entered the forest cafe to complain about swearing in some of the chants. i.e "1, 2, 3, 4, we dont want your fucking war!" etc. but promptly left when more people entered.
Herald coverage
By Anonymous
more info:
Herald report
Re: Smash NATO - A brief summary of the day
By Luther Blisset's dog
Why was my addition to the days events taken down? Maybe you left earlier but you missed out a good chunk of the rest of the day.....
Re: Smash NATO - A brief summary of the day
By TomM
I didn't hide your comment.
Does the editor who did want to raise their hand?
A more transparent comment moderation system would be nice. Hidden articles can be viewed and reasons for hiding read, but not for comments as things stand.
Re: Smash NATO - A brief summary of the day
By Elizabeth Swann
Report from Edinburgh Evening News
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/You-can39t-take--any.5824782.jp
All this after a years planning by "Antimilitarist Network"... Perhaps trying to organise an Edinburgh anti NATO protest from Brighton wasn't such a good idea after all...ho hum...
Re: Smash NATO - A brief summary of the day
By CH
+1
Comment now unhidden. Not clear why it was hidden. Could have collateral damage from clearing the trolling out the SDL threads.