Democracy Village at Trafalgar Square

July 31, 2010 12:30

Published: July 27, 2010 20:04 by Democracy Village |

Tagged as: anti-militarism culture free_spaces gender migration repression social_struggles solidarity workers_struggles

Places: central london

"The Democracy Village experiement is hereby suspended until further notice.  As you may be aware, on Tuesday 20th July at approximately 1AM, bailifts acting under the authority of a possession order and an injunction granted to the Mayor of London by the High Courts of Justice, forcibly removed the peaceful asssembly of concerned citizens who had been residing at Parliament Square Gardens as part of the Democracy Village since the 1st May. The Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority claimed that the presence of the village damaged Parliament Square and prevented visitors from accessing the Square or carrying out demonstrations.  One member of Parliament claimed that the village was an international embarrassment.In response, we would like to make the following points clear.  Whilst there was slight damage to the grass on Parliament Square Gardens, the square was kept clean by residents there who worked hard to ensure it remained a tidy place. At no stage was anyone wishing to demonstrate on PSG told to go away or told that they would be refused access to the Square should they wish to protest.  On more than one occassion residents of the village offerred to move tents around the square in order to accomodate other citizens who were wanting to demonstrate.  Whilst the village was there several seperate demonstrations took place including one major demonstration for the oppressed Tamils in Sri Lanka where several thousand Tamils stood on the square for over two hours. We reject the official excuses for the removal of the village.  It seems more likely to us that the British Government could not tolerate the presence of a determined group of concerned citizens who were prepared to stick it out in uncomfortable conditions and challenge it's unjust behaviour and immoral policies, most notably it's military occupation of Afghanistan.  It seems that the government regards temporary dissent as a nuisance but sustained dissent a threat. And so now, there is no more Democracy Village, but still the concerned citizens remain.  Our dissent does not stop at the boundaries of Parliament Square Gardens.  It has no boundaries.This Saturday we will be at the north end of Trafalgar Square from 12.30PM onwards....

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