I arrived back at Parliament Square last night. Following the removal and absurd arrests made earlier in the week, I wasnt sure what I would come back to. I hurried along the pavement, Beg Ben towering over the buildings and trees ahead, before I rounded the corner and breathed out a silent, Yes! The square has been surrounded by a steel fence; hundreds of police stood outside it, police dogs on leads barking on the grass inside, and then there were the people, hundreds of people standing hand in hand and surrounding the square. The Occupy Democracy movement is growing, helped by the injustices the protestors suffered at the start of our 9 day peaceful protest. Despite our presence not broken by the aggression used by the police, despite use meeting them with peace, still they remain in riot van after riot van, with cold wet officer stood next to cold wet officer. Not long after I arrived a speaker from the Free Energy party was almost forcefully taken away, I believe for speaking into a megaphone, but I think more likely because she was using it to help the Heritage Wardens to understand the law they appeared to know very little about. It was majestic; the MET tried to take her and bodies swelled like a breaking wave, Shame on You was sung as the MET were carried on the voice of Truth back, and then, with them unarmed by peaceful defiance, we sang to them again, We forgive you...We forgive you. Moments later, and exhibiting a comics perfect timing, Russell Brand arrived handing out sleeping bags and subsequently delivering a beautiful speech to the police. He left the square to go on Newsnight, helping the BBC to give the tarpaulin revolution the recognition it deserves. The police have been wrong in the way they have handled Parliament Square, and they suffer more than us because of it. They are forced to stand for hours on end and watch a group of concerned citizens sleeping under plastic rain coats and ill treated. The police are meant to exist to make communities safer, and I believe most the officers with us in Parliament Square know they are not doing so in this instant, they are protecting government from hearing our calls. They have failed, we have not been silenced. And because of the way they tried to take away our right to protest our numbers and our cause has magnified. After the mass demo, around 40 people, young and old, slept out under the nighttime rain clouds, and as the weekend arrives our numbers will swell again as the tarpaulin revolution comes to its end on Sunday. If anyones in the Capitol then drop by for a tea and join us as we discuss democracy, and what that should really mean.
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 07:38:19 +0000