50,000 Climate Protestors in London
Published:
December 05, 2009 17:36
by
imc features
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Imc London Features
Ahead of the main Wave demonstration, the Climate emergency bike ride organised by Campaign Against Climate Change started out at 10am from Lincolns Inn, bringing together 200 cyclists, two sound systems, with police in attendance [pics video and report] [twitpic], passing by the BP HQ where speeches were made and ending up at the Climate Emergency Rally in Hyde Park [videos]. Earlier thousands had gathered for an interfaith service and other feeder events.
At noon, thousands of people assembled at Grosvenor Square for the 'Splashdance!' [twitpic] and speeches [Audioboo 1 | 2] and departed for Parliament at 1pm. The march reached a massive 50,000, more people than had been anticipated originally by organisers (despite this much of the mainstream media reported a figure of 20,000). The protest gomes ahead of the Cop15 Climate conference in Copenhagen next week. See Wave Flickr Pool.
Indymedia London received reports from people on the streets about the large assortment of environmental, trade union and faith groups from around the UK - including an anti-capitalist bloc, a (spoof) carbon traders bloc [gallery] nuns on tricycles, and sound systems.
The Wave took place as scheduled at 3pm, with Parliament surrounded, and more speeches were made next to the bus near Big Ben. Similar protests took place in other cities with around 10000 marching in Glasgow, 15,000 in Brussels [pics] as well as marches in other countries.
Camp for Climate Action asked protestors to assemble at Jubilee Gardens via text and tweets shortly after 3pm for the Cop Out Camp Out action. A subsequent announcement at 16:05 told campers to head to Trafalgar Square. At the time of publishing, a camp has been established, with two tripods, marquees, toilets, a kitchen, tents going up. See seperate COP Out feature.
See Photo Reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
For coverage of the COP15 mobilisation check out Indymedia Denmark | Climate IMC | iCop15 | ImcUk Cop15 section
Photo from WWF Flickr group
Additions
Wave video
Published: December 08, 2009 11:19
by
vids
Inc speeches at start point:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxL_LnaO-q8
@ class struggle anarchists everywhere
Published: December 08, 2009 22:50
by
working-class former climate camper
After the last climate camp (blackheath) there was a lot of criticism of climate camp and climate camp actions. this time around I have seen very little analysis or criticism of climate camp in trafalgar square from anarchists on indymedia or any other anarchist forums or e-lists. there has been no negative comments, in fact there has been no comment at all.
what does tis silence indicate? What do we think about the latest climate camp endeavour? Do we as class struggle anarchists support this action? Will it be an effective action? how should we support this action?
Personally i feel that climate camp and climate camp actions have lost their edge. Climate camp is no longer a threat to the status quo. Its quest for media approval has ensured that it has become the safe face of climate activism. this is state-sanctioned protest.
I commend all those who are camped in trafalgar square, your hearts are in the right place and potentially you face police harrassment, violence and incarceration, however it is time that the thousands of climate campers nationwide to step it up and take it to the next level.
We've done the workshops, we know whats at stake, its time to really make our mark.
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Unite in struggle for liberation
Your manifold climate political demo is a great prologue to the resistance days in Copenhagen during the next two weeks. The demo was mentioned in the Danish TV-news. We have translated the report from Indymedia London to Danish and published it on our autonomous site:
http://www.autonominfoservice.net/klima-cop15/
Best greetings to you – specially the anti-capitalist bloc, because the climate struggle has to connect to the fight for an other society, an other world beyond market and profit.
See you !
Love and rage
Left radicals from the autonomous mediacollective autonom infoservice in Denmark
http://www.autonominfoservice.net