This, in Edinburgh?
That's been my reaction watching the news tonight. Many of us, on leaving work, suggested lightly that it would be interesting to see how things developed over the next couple of hours, but the disruption was much longer-lived and more serious than I, for one, had expected.
I got home at 3:30pm with no plans to do anything much and was horrified to see, on the six o'clock news, that the demonstration (if it could still be called such) had yet to finish. Even now, four hours later, there are reports of continuing stand-offs at Waverley station, at the far east end of Princes St.
It's horrific. The protesters apparently numbered only about a thousand, of whom a small core are believed to have come to Edinburgh with the intention of causing trouble. Billed as a carnival for full enjoyment, details of what was planned were scarce before the event, and from what I can tell it did start off with a carnival atmosphere, only to deteriorate as it progressed.
There was something faintly ridiculous about the sight of protestors uprooting flowers from Princes St Gardens to throw them at the police. Nothing even remotely amusing about bins and park benches being thrown in their direction, which really brought home to me the seriousness of the situation. It's something you do see in many violent protests, but to have it take place in your home city is another thing altogether.
According to the latest news, there've been 60 arrests and 20 injuries, not to mention complaints about police heavy-handedness from residents and protesters alike. I have to ask though, isn't this to be expected of any violent demonstration? It's a real case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" - you can be sure there would have been even more complaints had their approach been more hands-off - and must be a tremendously difficult balance to strike. If anything, I'm impressed that there were no more than 20 injuries.
My concerns lie more with the long-term effect: as one report has pointed out, the plight of Africa's poor seemed far away from today's demonstration. We've got two days to go until the next G8-related event - Live 8, about which we can feel more optimistic - not forgetting the G8 meeting itself, at which I hope and pray that the leaders involved can look past the violence initiated by the few and bear in mind the wishes of the many. If it also gives today's violent contingent less to protest about (and therefore less credibility if they do so regardless), well and good.
A lot rests on the next few days. Casting it all aside would only be playing into the anarchists' hands, and we cannot possibly afford to do that.
I got home at 3:30pm with no plans to do anything much and was horrified to see, on the six o'clock news, that the demonstration (if it could still be called such) had yet to finish. Even now, four hours later, there are reports of continuing stand-offs at Waverley station, at the far east end of Princes St.
It's horrific. The protesters apparently numbered only about a thousand, of whom a small core are believed to have come to Edinburgh with the intention of causing trouble. Billed as a carnival for full enjoyment, details of what was planned were scarce before the event, and from what I can tell it did start off with a carnival atmosphere, only to deteriorate as it progressed.
There was something faintly ridiculous about the sight of protestors uprooting flowers from Princes St Gardens to throw them at the police. Nothing even remotely amusing about bins and park benches being thrown in their direction, which really brought home to me the seriousness of the situation. It's something you do see in many violent protests, but to have it take place in your home city is another thing altogether.
According to the latest news, there've been 60 arrests and 20 injuries, not to mention complaints about police heavy-handedness from residents and protesters alike. I have to ask though, isn't this to be expected of any violent demonstration? It's a real case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" - you can be sure there would have been even more complaints had their approach been more hands-off - and must be a tremendously difficult balance to strike. If anything, I'm impressed that there were no more than 20 injuries.
My concerns lie more with the long-term effect: as one report has pointed out, the plight of Africa's poor seemed far away from today's demonstration. We've got two days to go until the next G8-related event - Live 8, about which we can feel more optimistic - not forgetting the G8 meeting itself, at which I hope and pray that the leaders involved can look past the violence initiated by the few and bear in mind the wishes of the many. If it also gives today's violent contingent less to protest about (and therefore less credibility if they do so regardless), well and good.
A lot rests on the next few days. Casting it all aside would only be playing into the anarchists' hands, and we cannot possibly afford to do that.
posted by Anthony at
22:07
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