I was there and am moved by what I saw. I met brian today for the 2nd time and found him to be a sound, decent man who spoke fluently, intelligently and with genuine compassion for his fellow man, be they officers of the law or innocent victims of our bombs.

Not one to normally criticize the Met, I found the police presence intimidating (I counted at least 5 clusters of moody police photographers) and aggressive. One passer by/tourist (provacateur?) seemed to take pleasure in shouting at us that we were "stupid" and that the police were "here to help" whilst we were conveying our disgust at the way that 5 fully grown male officers were dragging a peaceful lady to their van. I overheard one officer say that "we've got 3" when asked how many arrests they had made followed by "we need 6" worried me, like they had a target. When asked for the name of the Police station that the "perpetrators" had been taken to, the police gave 3 different names, one example of their smug disrespect for these good people.

The sheer number and expense of the police operation amazed me: 2 Helicopters, 7 Police Vans, 4 "prison wagons" for arrests and just way too many police officers. Such a waste of resources, yet I am sure that they (and other clones) will say that it's our fault, keeping them from "real" policing like catching terrorists. Funny how they never seem low on manpower for these kind of things. I am sure they will be policing the DSEi (September, Excel) well too.

I hope more of you will come on Sunday to maintain the protest at this draconian law.

Don't fall for the "it's to prevent terrorism" line that my friends fall for, It's to keep us "out of sight, out of mind" and to stop good people like Brian and the Wednesday women from embarassing the corrupt and greedy into remembering what they are really there for.

Shame on you Met Police...See you on Sunday

As I walked back along St James' Park I actually counted 20 police vans ie. 20 x 10 police officers = 200!!! Having disrobed of my Peace flag, I innocently asked them why they were there and was told that there was a demo at Parliament Square and they were there in case of trouble!!!

Hey guys, nice pictures. The mainstream media did not cover this at all.

If your reading this you might be interested in taking a look at www.dialectic.org.uk, we are interested in building up an active forum on issues like this.

Thank you.