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| Start at the March for Change. To see full album of 107 photos of London, banners and people, https://photos.app.goo.gl/R787imCrxBdXVbPs6 |
The March for Change on 20th July looked like the last chance to send a message, to rethink Brexit, to the new Prime Minister who was expected to take up his post next in the following week. In all conscience, I had to attend.
I hopped onto my bike with camera and enough spare batteries to see me through the day and took the 9:32 from Cambridge North to Kings Cross. For once the train was relatively empty and I was able to get a seat. Arriving an hour later in the big city of London, I captured my first fellow demonstrators on the platform.
Anticipating queues at the March for Change meeting point near Hyde Park, I took the tube to Embankment and then walked along to Parliament Square taking photos on the way. At 11:30 am the Parliament Square was relatively empty, with just the stage and the sound teams busy setting up ready for the incoming tide of protesters later in the day. I walked on to Horseguards Road and followed the path alongside St James' Lake in the Park till Buckingham Palace. Carefree tourists kept under the trees as the forecast thunderstorm turned instead into a mild shower, before returning to feeding the squirrels and geese or walk up to the gates of the Palace to begin the obligatory selfie sessions. I hurried through Green Park to arrive at Park Lane just after 12 noon, hoping I hadn't missed the start of the March.
I needn't have worried, the start was delayed as streams of protesters were still arriving. It was a relaxed carnival like atmosphere. The police were cheerful and friendly and happy to chat and answer questions. A camera crew or two and several photographers hovered around in front of the line as the 3 m tall Farage figure manipulated two smaller almost life-size puppets of Boris and Hunt. Occasional chanting would begin, but the crowds were really waiting for the start before losing their voices.
At 1 pm, the line started to move forward (video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxSokAHTGhA&list=PLO_a6a_qHNAU-0V92R92L_KUbIvwipgfY&index=2&t=0s). Only to be held up by a crowd fifty meters down the road. This was the gathering of the March leaders, with the March for Change Banner. After a brief interlude, we set off again (second video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eblAp0NdTGY&list=PLO_a6a_qHNAU-0V92R92L_KUbIvwipgfY&index=3&t=0s.
I stayed with the march a short while and then left to take a shorter route to Parliament Square to meet the march as it arrived there. Anticipating this could take a while, and with nature calling after hours on my feet, I settled in at the Wesley Cafe in the Methodist Great Hall just around the corner from the square and also had a quick snack and drink. Returning to the square just after 2 pm, a crowd had already gathered on the green and it looked as if the march was also just arriving. There was enough space to wander through to within a couple of meters of the front rows of protesters and we settled down until the speakers arrived.
There was a lot of cheering and booing at the right places as the speeches got underway. We had a wide range of representatives from the organisers and also different parts of the four nations. I particularly enjoyed the Billy Bragg session where he played a number of familiar tunes with very apt and up to date new lyrics.
It was during Billy's first song that a lone, quite boorish brexiteer joined the front rows and began to heckle and leer (yes I do mean leer) at the surrounding audience. We were all frightfully polite, pretending not to notice him, or those nearest him asking "Oh do shut up please" in a low voice - very British. One of the stewards came over and, with a smile on her face attempted to intervene, to no avail. Billy came to the end of his song and had obviously noticed the disruption and just shouted out, "The organisers aren't allowed to do much to get rid of persistent hecklers but as a performer I can, go on, get him off!" Security arrived within seconds and the unfortunate was bundled off, much to our relief.
Note - escorted off, not jeered at or subjected to violence or hate, or made to feel afraid for his life.
After an hour, I began to wander around and take more photographs of the banners and people (with their permission). By 4 pm, the event was coming to an end and the crowd began to disperse gradually.
I walked towards Trafalgar Square and took the wrong turning for Leicester Square tube station and headed for Covent Garden instead, feeling ever more thirsty after the long afternoon. I was finally tempted to have a sorbet ice-cream cone from a packed Amorino, prepared with ice-cream petals to look like a rose, and absolutely delicious.
Fortunately, the trip to Kings Cross Station on the baking-hot tube was short. I finally took the train home.
Will this event have made a difference? I don't know. It was certainly smaller than the March march. But we have to continue to try and influence a more balanced and rational future in whatever small way we can. At least we still have a democracy that allows us to express our dissent. Others are not so lucky and the trend here and across the pond is to ignore the facts and push to a baser, less tolerant populism with the worst lowest common denominators.
