Trafalgar Square becomes Red Square

tob | 11.09.2003 15:36 | DSEi 2003 | Anti-militarism | London

Protestors filled the Trafalgar Square with 'blood' this afternoon, in protest against the DSEi arms fair.

Trafalgar Square becomes Red Square

Trafalgar Square became Red Square this afternoon, as anti-arms trade campaigners filled its famous fountain with fake blood. They were protesting against DSEi - Europe's largest arms fair - which is currently taking place in East London.

The demonstrators unveiled a banner which read: "Arms dealers in town. Stop DSEi
In an anonymous press statement, the protestors - believed to be students - said:
"The DSEi arms fair is a stain on London, selling weapons of mass destruction to repressive regimes the world over.
"The government subsidises the arms trade to the tune of £763 million a year - money which could better be spent on education.
"On the anniversary of September 11 atrocities in New York and Chile, the best thing we could do to prevent terror is to stop this bloody trade. Disarm DSEi!"

tob

Comments

Hide the following 12 comments

Amazed!

11.09.2003 15:57

Excellent. The actions are getting better and better...can't wait to hear what happens tonight!!

Spitfire
Homepage: http://twotins.tripod.com

WELL DONE

11.09.2003 16:16

WELL DONE.

Tom Paine
mail e-mail: tompainee@yahoo.co.uk

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL

11.09.2003 22:54

Thank you-a truly intelligent, inspiring and creative form of protest. We need much more like it in order to succeed. Thank you uk indymedia for the report and pics!

Michael

nothing but childish acts of vandalisim

12.09.2003 08:32

protesting is one thing if done in a peaceful professional manner which I have yet to see but pouring red dye into fountains is nothing more than an act of vandalisim, sad and childish I think it may be time for these people to grow up

paul

Good Stuff

12.09.2003 08:41

Just ignore the moaning trolls. It's just some sad loser jerking off alone in some basement bedsit.

Couldn't believe the atmosphere on the streets last night outside the pigscum hotel where the pigscum death merchants were stuffing their faces. Great turnout, great solidarity, possibly the best demo in London for years! What was really amazing was the reaction from local people - everyone was waving and cheering from their balconies and even some of the motorists were sympathetic to what we were doing!

Keep up the good work!

EAT PROTEST!
SLEEP PROTEST!
SMOKE MARIJUANA!

Andy

Fountain-tastic!

12.09.2003 08:54

I've just seen the photos of the fountain and would like to say BIG UP YOU ALL! Succinct, striking, imaginative, and every other good word I can think of.
I couldn't come to the protests but have been following your every move on Indymedia and I think you all rock. Massive respect to the peaceful massive!

And Paul, "vandalism"? A teensy bit of red dye? Please...There are times and places for bold statements, and this was definitely one of them.

Princess Leia

Very visual and makes the point strongly - congratulations!

12.09.2003 15:15

Yes, this was an excellent way to make the point that the blood of inncocent people in the Third World will be unecessarily spilled by these weapons.

We did this is Manchester on the day the Iraq war started. In Piccadilly Gardens, there are now some fountains that shoot up into the air periodically (rather like the ones in Paris near the Eiffel Tower). Red dye was put into these fountains and it had a similar effect.

We need to find ways to communicate visually and, even better, using as many of the senses as possible, to bring home to people the horror and pointless carnage of imperialist war. The thing is most young people in Britain today have never experienced the horror of full scale war like previous generations. War films never show the true horror of war--they can't really because it would a have such a traumatic effect on people.

But there are ways of giving people some sense of the horror. Dressing protestors up as "wounded" people with bandages and lots of ketchup and doing publicity stunts like die-ins, are good ways of making the point.

In Manchester we had a mock "funeral" for the war victims last March with people dresed in black, wearing creepy-looking white face masks, and carrying "coffins" through the streets of Manchester. The important thing is to VIDEO this sort of theatrical stunt so that they can be shown to a wider audience globally via sites like this. Invest in a video camcorder and record them fro a wider audience and also for posterity. For example, the above event in Trafalgar Square should have been videoed. If a pictrure is worth a thousand words, a video is worth million...

Chris Edwards

yay

12.09.2003 16:06

2 people I was talking to who normally condemn anything other than peaceful marches along the pavement (because blocking cars is bad) both said they thought that sounded cool when I told them about it. nice one

phoebe

Hey Paul

13.09.2003 10:00

Hey Paul. You're an idiot!

the exposer

Best stunt in ages

14.09.2003 10:10

Imaginative, effective, brilliant.
congrats

B

B
mail e-mail: circletheory@aol.com

You Twat

16.09.2003 16:34

Paul.. Vandalism!!! red fucking dye.. i suppose you'd prefer a nice fluffy march along the pavement achieving absolutely fucking nothing.. but sticking completely within your idea's of the boundary's of the law... "protest in a peaceful and Professional manner" ok so pouring red dye into trafalgar sq. fountain wont really achieve anything other than to spread awareness of the cause but i wouldnt call it childish vandalism.. as someone else wrote, you are indeed a fucking idiot..

electropixie
mail e-mail: djscreamy@hotmail.com

What about........

19.09.2003 15:31

so this was a good idea, I know its abit unariginal but can we repeat it round the country. Decide on a date and sincranize. Have lots of blody fountins?

cat