After the Protest

The day started with a picnic in Greenwich followed by meanderings by the Cutty Sark. My friend pointed out a tunnel that goes under the Thames and after he and his wife and kids headed home; I took off on my brompton to check out the city.


On the north of the Thames is a cycle highway; the C53, marked by blue and cutting through the city like a smooth river through hills. (It made the city seem small; but I also managed to have caught a tailwind in all of that; so the trip home again was more of a mish.)


Coming in the opposite direction we’re clusters of bikes with banners - free Palestine, trans rights are human rights…

It seemed like something had been up, but I wasn’t sure what.


I’ve always loved Trafalgar Square; and when I got there I hit a wall of people. There was a sense like a big fist fight has happened or something. Loads of cops everywhere. Police transit vans parked side by side blocking the way off down the side roads. It seemed like utter overkill. (It wasn’t https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-57623110)


A man holding a sign- “this is a banking crisis; not a pandemic.”


Stickers all over the buttons to cross the road ; “when you live in fear of death; you have already died” “just say NO to the vaccine” “say NO to forced mass experimentation”. T shirts with messages painted on the back “we will keep fighting for you until you wake up”


“When injustice becomes law; resistance becomes duty.”


Down the mall; it was more of a festival vibe. The extinction rebellion crew had parked up near Buckingham and were playing loud drums. Regular tourists still poked their camera through to take photos of the guards in red coats and bearskin hats.


In parliament square, tired people sat und
er the trees. A weird mix of resignation and half told stories. One guy held a sign saying “the Royal Mail fired me for defending the cenotaph”, a young man with hair like Kenny G spoke into a microphone under Churchill’s statue while his friend recorded him “we’re here to tell you the truth about what’s really happening…” cops hung about in clusters of ten or so, nattering. Abandoned placards left in piles. Westminster and Big Ben was surrounded by scaffolding; giving and even more distant feel to these halls of power than usual. I read an article later that said protestors had pummelled the police with tennis balls within government grounds; like a schoolyard game.


I wandered past Churchills statue towards Ghandi, pondering for a bit about the Bengal Famine of 1943; and if these men had ever envisaged their likenesses standing near eachother forever . https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943


And then, not really understanding what I had passed through the wake of, I was back on my bike over Vauxhall bridge and towards Eltham again.

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