The right to peaceful protest

We were in London this weekend so that my wife could run in the Banardo's second annual 6k nun-run. We didn't really have anything planned for the Saturday, instead deciding to play it by ear.

What we had both forgotten was that Saturday was May Day, and the day of the Trade Union protest march which saw 5,000 protestors march to Trafalgar Square. I've never been to one of these protests before, so I was absolutely fascinated by this eclectic mix of TUC marchers, Sex-workers, Communist, Socialist and Anarchist marchers (the later of which lived up to their name by deciding not to go to Trafalgar after all), marchers representing detained Union leaders throughout the world - most notably Iran, Stop the War Coalition and countless more.

Whatever I may feel about any particular one of these organisations, it was really good to see the right to peaceful protest up-close and with so many people taking part peacefully. The huge rally in Trafalgar Square was quite spectacular.

I was going to crop this one a bit tighter, but given the government's recent attempts to restrict or prohibit protest outside Parliament, I thought having Big Ben in the frame only fitting.