Struggle
11th December 2010, 07:32
The worst part of the whole day was not the protests themselves, but the dispersion at the end of the night on Westminster bridge.
The police took us ¾ of the way up the bridge and stopped us. Thousands of people were on Westminster bridge, ‘contained’ there for 2 hours. Police were behind us and in-front, stopping us from moving anywhere.
There was absolutely nowhere to move, except by jumping off the bride into the river or by breaking through the police lines. There was no room to even move a centimetre.
As one can imagine, being forcefully trapped on Westminster bridge for 2 hours by the police, people were beginning to become more and more agitated as time went by.
After about 1 hour, the chants started to become more angry, and one could visually see the hostile expressions on peoples faces.
As always, the chants started off against the police quite pacified as ‘Shame on you’, but soon after, the chants became much more angry as “Let us off this fucking bridge”, or simply angry insults delivered with obvious absolute hate towards the police, due to the fact people were literally trapped in a seemingly concentration camp with no chance to escape without taking massive risks.
About 1 and half hours after being on the bridge, people started to talk about pushing forward and breaking through the lines as the only means to escape. People had shouted push before, but due to the thousands of people present on the bridge, we all knew it would be a huge risk and very dangerous, due to the possibility of people being crushed.
However, after a more chants and finally after thousands delivered a collective widespread fierce chant 2 hours after being on the bridge, thousands began to push forward and for the first time throughout the whole day, due to the literal forceful kettling on Westminster Bridge with nowhere to move, people were willing to use any means to escape.
I was at the front of the crowd on Westminster Bridge, and I remember looking around to see many people crying, mostly young who made the wrong decision of going to the front, hoping to get out earlier.
However, by being at the front, one risked the most danger, as the police were determined to push us back, while thousands were pushing forward. People were screaming ‘Your crushing us’, while the Police used forceful means to try and prevent the trapped people from breaking through the lines.
That night on Westminster bridge, the police made the worst decision of all by containing the people. Whoever planned that route should have charges brought against him/her, as thousands of people could easily of been crushed to death due to the shockingly terrible strategic planning. For the first time of the whole day, people were honestly, with no exaggeration at all, dwelling on whether they would make it out alive.
For some of us, we were shouting Hillsborough, as we knew that the crushing at Hillsborough was to most extent caused by the police’s counter-productive strategic planning.
Words can’t describe in anywhere enough detail what happened on that bridge, one would need to be there to understand it fully. But I can say, that in all my experience at participating in protests, that night on Westminster bridge, was the most dangerous and fierce event I have ever experienced in any protest I have ever participated in.
The police took us ¾ of the way up the bridge and stopped us. Thousands of people were on Westminster bridge, ‘contained’ there for 2 hours. Police were behind us and in-front, stopping us from moving anywhere.
There was absolutely nowhere to move, except by jumping off the bride into the river or by breaking through the police lines. There was no room to even move a centimetre.
As one can imagine, being forcefully trapped on Westminster bridge for 2 hours by the police, people were beginning to become more and more agitated as time went by.
After about 1 hour, the chants started to become more angry, and one could visually see the hostile expressions on peoples faces.
As always, the chants started off against the police quite pacified as ‘Shame on you’, but soon after, the chants became much more angry as “Let us off this fucking bridge”, or simply angry insults delivered with obvious absolute hate towards the police, due to the fact people were literally trapped in a seemingly concentration camp with no chance to escape without taking massive risks.
About 1 and half hours after being on the bridge, people started to talk about pushing forward and breaking through the lines as the only means to escape. People had shouted push before, but due to the thousands of people present on the bridge, we all knew it would be a huge risk and very dangerous, due to the possibility of people being crushed.
However, after a more chants and finally after thousands delivered a collective widespread fierce chant 2 hours after being on the bridge, thousands began to push forward and for the first time throughout the whole day, due to the literal forceful kettling on Westminster Bridge with nowhere to move, people were willing to use any means to escape.
I was at the front of the crowd on Westminster Bridge, and I remember looking around to see many people crying, mostly young who made the wrong decision of going to the front, hoping to get out earlier.
However, by being at the front, one risked the most danger, as the police were determined to push us back, while thousands were pushing forward. People were screaming ‘Your crushing us’, while the Police used forceful means to try and prevent the trapped people from breaking through the lines.
That night on Westminster bridge, the police made the worst decision of all by containing the people. Whoever planned that route should have charges brought against him/her, as thousands of people could easily of been crushed to death due to the shockingly terrible strategic planning. For the first time of the whole day, people were honestly, with no exaggeration at all, dwelling on whether they would make it out alive.
For some of us, we were shouting Hillsborough, as we knew that the crushing at Hillsborough was to most extent caused by the police’s counter-productive strategic planning.
Words can’t describe in anywhere enough detail what happened on that bridge, one would need to be there to understand it fully. But I can say, that in all my experience at participating in protests, that night on Westminster bridge, was the most dangerous and fierce event I have ever experienced in any protest I have ever participated in.