Unite for Freedom protest was frenetic, cathartic and necessary - but held back by distractions and contradictions
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OffG's Samuel May, aka Admin2, was in London for the Unite for Freedom protest, and shares his experiences and impressions.
It is estimated that approximately 10,000 gathered in Trafalgar Square to protest on 29 August. This may be an underestimate. I perched atop a portacabin to gain the footage of the turnout you see here, and later joined the march to Downing Street.
The most notable thing was the huge diversity of those attending. So many different ethnicities. So much varying dress sense, hinting at so many varied backgrounds.
Middle-aged, middle-class women who looked like they'd never attended a rally in their lives. Festival-wear-clad individuals with long hair, who looked like they probably had. Burly, vocal, tattooed gentlemen and professional-looking types. People old and young, although I would say young people were underrepresented at this demonstration.
The atmosphere was peaceful and welcoming. The sense of relief at being amongst a crowd of similarly-minded people, of feeling some safety in numbers for a brief and rare time, was visible on the faces of all those around.
The tone of the crowd, frequently chanting 'Shame on you' at police and establishment figures, was passionate and angry, but not at all violent. There was no hint of violence throughout the protest, reflected in the very low number of police arrests. I think it was two, including a gentleman in his 70s.
Comment: The police arrested one of the event organizers as he was leaving and the crowd was dispersing: Piers Corbyn, brother of the former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. He later
said:
"After the rally had finished, I was saying goodbye to people. I was just looking around thinking I had better go now, and then they [the police] just grabbed me from behind.
"I was not expecting it at all. They frogmarched me - they didn't handcuff me - and told me they were arresting me for contravening the coronavirus regulations for organising a gathering of more than 30 people."
Corbyn said he was held for 10 hours by police before being fined, despite having fully cooperated with police and local authorities in the run-up to the event.
Comment: See also: