Apparently they got penned in for a bit. Hardly surprising: they must have stood out a mile. Are these people from Spain / Italy / Greece by any chance cos those are the places where they think wearing black hoodies and masks is where it's at.

Mel, although i agree that the Black Bloc may have stuck out amongst a sea of white 'Make Captialism Nicer' marchers, I think it is ridiculous to claim that those are the only countries where wearing black hoodies and masks is common. What about the black bloc at J18, Mayday and other similar events in the UK, not to mention Germany, the USA and more.

Quick point Hmmm, don't forget that a lot of the people came over from the Continent for June the 18th: the arrests testified that.

Dressing up intimidatingly and pushing over bins isn't going to convert anyone to the cause.

CONVERT THIS !!

WHO IS INTIMIDATING WHO ??

is perhaps what is off-putting. Personally I'm happy to see people in the streets whether they running around in black hoodies, clown suits or just their work clothes. It takes all kinds to make a movement. I must say though that I'd like to see some contingents that showed teh same seriousness and militancy as the black bloc without the admittedly intimidating Mad Max-ish look. I think a few hundred folks wearing regular work clothes but marching in formation and prepared to fight would be more threatening than a similar sized group that so sharply sets itself off from the other 200,000 people there to protest. Its easy to take pot shots at folks for marching to "make capitalism nicer," its real work to win them over.

I travelled with the Belfast Anti-Racism Network on a Bus from Belfast to attend Saturday's march and the Police were all over us from the outset. Another 2 buses travelled in convoy with us containing G8 alternatives and Students Against Poverty.

We were stopped at the Port of Stranraer on arrival on Friday, and had all our luggage removed before any permission was given and every bag was searched. We were all required (including children under 16) to fill out a "Landing Card" detailing Name, Address and other details, our photo's were taken and our bags were all searched. A sniffer dog was used. A few more dogs were contained in a second van and appeared to be crowd control alsatians, rather than sniffers.

People with legal training and media personnel travelling on the bus questioned the police forcefully and they looked very uncomfortable. At one stage whilst we were sitting around waiting on the other 2 buses being searched a senior officer asked us to get back on our bus. The response from one member of our group was "F*ck off" and he thought better of pursuing the issue and relented.

In all we were stuck for 3 hours on a hot day with many children as young as 5.

In another incident the police formed a cordon around the crowd watching speakers at the Stop the War Coalition Stage to the East of the Meadows. Around 60 officers moved in quietly and surrounded the speakers, creating a definite air of tension. This was prior to a speech by George Galloway, the crowd were a mix of women with children and other activists, and were mostly seated on the ground relaxing. The police would not respond to questioning about their presence.

I can only guess that their purpose was to create tension and thus deter casual passers by from being corrupted by the rhetoric of Mr Galloway and his like.

Democracy in action...