(Picture Courtesy of The Canary)
I maybe chose the wrong way of getting to London last Saturday. The East Coast route to St Pancras seemed to be out of action and instead I had a ponderous two and a half hour run via Tamworth to Euston. But from Euston to the start on Park lane was a brisk 30-minute walk; much easier and pleasanter. We were told the March moved off at 1.00pm but as I approached Park Lane there seemed nobody else around who looked like a marcher. I started to panic. I was relieved to come to a crowd of bereted and flag-waving marchers further down Park Lane, and soon there were lots of us- a sea of blue and yellow. We were a bit late starting- more like 1.30 – and the first 30 minutes was slow and halting as we inched along the pavement. But from Hyde Park Corner it looked as if the road was closed to traffic and we were able to spread out and move forward faster.
The Rejoin Party was represented at various points, and I later saw Brendan Donnelly in Parliament Square. Grassroots for Europe were also well in evidence. There was clearly a well-organized operation to ensure everyone was supplied with posters, flags and badges. Friendly people doled out these items at various points, and there seemed to be an abundance of stuff. As I understand it the March for Rejoin is an autonomous organization, so I guess their people were doing this.
We spread along Piccadilly and Pall Mall, and as we walked along Whitehall we were applauded by several onlookers. Lots of tourists also, who looked a little bemused. No hostility at all. I fell in with a group of elephants – or leastways people with elephant masks on. They were representing the ‘Thank EU for the Music’ campaign for better access to and from the EU for musicians. In an under-reported march, they actually got a spot in Monday’s i, so they did us all a bit of good. The ‘Elephants in the Room’ theme clearly has legs.
By the time we got to Parliament Square I had drifted forward, and when I looked behind me I realized for the first time what a multitude we were. People kept streaming in from Whitehall and our MC had to pester us all from the platform to move to the front. We milled around for a while, enjoying a hilarious rap version of Donald Trump’s ‘They’re eating people’s pets in Springfield’ speech, set to music on the big screen. Then my time ran out. Back to Euston.
derby4europe 