A report on the anti-arms fair demo.

Former Member

Originally posted by Steelgate:
There were about 500 people there in total. The police cordoned in the wombles (a group who dress in white overalls, padding and crash helmets to protect crowds at demos from police attacks) and the samba band and others opposite canning town station for about an hour. Many people though managed to avoid the cordon and walked down to Tidal Basin Road to join the main demo. The police eventually allowed the people inside the cordon to march down to Tidal Basin Road to join the rest of the protesters but kept a cordon around them even when they were right next to the main demo. The the wombles managed to force a way through police lines and people escaped the cordon and joined the main protest. There were speeches made by people from CND, campaign against the arms trade and the Green Party. Then the samba band played for a while.

At 4pm people followed the samba band in a march around the road at the side of the protest site to the police line across the road leading the to Excel exhibition centre where the arms fair was held. After about half an hour the samba band led everyone up the main road towards canning town station. We then past a pub where many of the protesters had gone who had left the demonstration earlier and they cheered and waved on seeing us. There was a small scruffle when police tried to arrest a woman and dragged her to the ground, after people ran to her aid they let her go. A few yards further on the police again cordoned most people in on the road but many managed to run and avoid the cordon. After about half an hour they started to release people from the cordon in small groups. Most people then left via the docklands light railway.

[This message has been edited by Steelgate (edited 12-09-2001).]

Were you protesting the sales of 757s, 767s and boxcutters?