Protest for Peace in London Stop the War – my day of protest Saturday 9 August 2014 Yesterday I marched for Peace. It was my first ever march or mass participation protest and it was a totally new experience for me. I am recounting my experience but would like to state that my account, photos and clips are a random sample of what I saw this day. My own views of the banners and messages are not reflected in what I am posting of this day. I have never been to a march before and am sharing my experience for those unable to join but who may well attend a future event and maybe like me may be a first timer. I joined the march out of concern that children and innocents were being slaughtered and out of my great desire to encourage dialogue and peace talks I was with my twin who has lived in both Libya and Saudi Arabia, and who is fluent in Arabic and from whom I have learned so much about Arabic culture. And we were accompanied by a Muslim family from Tunisia and a cherished Jewish friend. Christians, Muslims and Jews stood together, as friends, with total respect and mutual love for each other. Our common goal was to end the slaughter, encourage peace talks and a desire to unite to get our message to the world and it’s leaders. It is reported that we were amongst 150, 000 others with similar goals. Along the way we saw families with their children. Toddlers and babies in prams. The disabled in wheelchairs and with walking sticks. All peoples of the world, creeds, colours and ages. There was a very strong presence of Jewish people and Jewish groups also making their protest heard too. Coaches had been arranged from all corners of the UK. I saw groups from Manchester, Nottingham and Yorkshire. Marching slowly and peacefully together. Sharing stories, food and drink with strangers, helping where we could. Civilized, peaceful and respectful. There was a visible police presence but it was “hands off” for they clearly were not going to have any challenges with such a peaceful protest. Above us helicopters monitoring and here and there news crews interviewing people Starting at Oxford Circus where free Placards to show visible support were available and one could choose many different slogans:. Some people made their own Free Palestine, Stop the war, Stop the massacre Stop Israel’s war crimes in Gaza Stop Israel State Terror Freedom for Palestine Gaza end the siege Stop the killing End the occupation One love one people There were vendors, merchants and leaflets available from many different groups supporting the march. People with their faces painted, people who had brought flags and hand written their own placards and written on their T shirts.. Eccentrics were there too. And there were bands accompanying us. Chanting many different protests: What do we want ? JUSTICE When do we want it ? NOW And other chants too the main one being Today we are ALL Palestinians We started outside of the BBC, waiting for over an hour. People climbed statues, waved flags. I took the video clip at this point. A massive roar of protest. We shouted SHAME at the BBC pointing our fingers at them for biased coverage. Many people had “disturbed” use of their phones. I could not get a signal at all. Many others reported the same. This could have been BBC equipment innocently affecting our mobiles, or something else that occurs during times of emergencies and crises those in power knock out mobile transmissions. My mobile crashed soon after this point no signal at all…and thus it limited opportunity to present anything else that I witnessed this day We ambled back to Oxford Circus walking up Oxford Street, shoppers laden down with bulging purchases watched us silently. We headed towards Marks and Spencers where we did a left turn. Passing Starbucks where some fingers were pointed and protests made, and headed to the American Embassy. They had removed their flag ….. Fingers pointed at them too and shouted BOO and Shame etc. And we then headed towards Hyde Park where freedom of speech has taken place for many years. This is associated with executions and hangings at Tyburn where the condemned were given the opportunity to say their final words. So Free Speech is embedded in British Culture at this point By then we had been marching from 11 to 3pm or so and then slowly as the park filled many speeches were made. It was very difficult to know until that point how many people were there. But as more joined us in the Park it had become evident that this was a massive civil and civilised protest. It was a well organised day. Water had been freely available and was a welcome courtesy for many particularly the elderly. In the noon day sun it was very very hot. But even the disabled were indefatigable. I entered a supermarket as I was hungry by then and security were on hand as many shops have been targeted and disrupted with protesters this past week and all banners and posters were left by the door for later collection I will join other marches for the horrors unfolding around the world are terrifying. And I am aghast that our leaders are not listening to us and not acting on our concerns. I am concerned for the future. War costs more than peace and Truth and the innocent are victims and casualties of war. My pictures and the video The photos I am posting are a random sample of what I saw this day and limited to the short duration that my phone obliged me until it crashed somewhat unexpectedly….. My own views of the banners and messages are not reflected in what I am posting of this day. I have never been to a march before and am sharing my experience for those unable to join but who may well attend a future event and maybe like me as a first timer. This march was for “stop the war in Gaza. There were other marches this day that united with us later. I take no sides. I am for Peace Video https://facebook/photo.php?v=10203876913619574 Saturday 9 August . Stop the war March for peace Outside of the BBC where protestors voiced their opinion of biased coverage and reporting. People had mounted the pedestal to wave flags and elicit responses from the masses below . A tremendous noise of protest ensued . A massive civilian protest see stopwar.org.uk/ Coverage of this protest was here bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28715052 bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-28383460 Similar marches also took place in New York, Spain, France, Canada and South Africa and even more will taken place Facebook is flooded with reports and images and accounts of them all I am following Naomi Wolf who has garnered plenty of well sourced contacts around the world https://facebook/naomi.wolf.author?fref=nf Facebook has become a place where some people are being Trolled and attacked purely for being of a certain faith or race. I denounce this. This day I witnessed that there are people of all races and creeds wanting peace and it is unfair to single anyone out. This protest gave me great hope that this dream might be possible Coverage stopwar.org.uk/resources/reports/9-august-2014-the-biggest-ever-uk-demonstration-for-gaza bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28715052 bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-28383460 How you can help dec.org.uk/ More info https://facebook/stopthewarcoalition stopwar.org.uk/ Naomi Wolf https://facebook/naomi.wolf.author?fref=nf
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 21:18:21 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015