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London's Critical Mass rides again

brum imcista | 28.05.2007 22:45 | Birmingham

A small group of cyclists from Birmingham's Critical Mass travelled down to London last friday to support London's Critical Mass.

London's Critical Mass is being subjected to pathetic legal challenges from the police to get the ride banned. Every time 'the powers that be' attempt to curb the autonomous nature of the Capital's mass, they're met with growing numbers of riders eager to resist them.

Read more about the attempts to criminalise the London ride here:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/05/371358.html



Cop's back wheel comes clean off
Cop's back wheel comes clean off







cops block off road
cops block off road

riders climb over railings
riders climb over railings

Spacehijacking
Spacehijacking



Over a thousand cyclists and other human powered forms of transport congregated for the ride by the NFT on the south side of the river. In stark contrast to our mass, London's Mass has to tolerate the presence of cops on their ride. They attempt to steer the direction of the mass, 'manage' sections of the ride and intervene to 'cork' junctions. These are all things that we collectively perform as a mass ourselves.

The ride took in many of London's tourist attractions including Parliament Square, where riders lapped the square, some sat in the road and defiantly held their bikes above their heads. At Buckingham Palace a stretched limo, a rolls royce and a lamborghini were surrounded by hundreds of riders chanting, "more bikes, less cars!". On the way to Buckingham Palace a cop fell flat on his back - his back wheel had come clean off his bike.

Birmingham's monthly critical mass is this Friday 1st July. We meet up from 5:30 pm at St. Philip's Cathedral in the centre of Birmingham - the ride leaves at 6 pm.

brum imcista
- Homepage: http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/brumcriticalmass


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