About 600 cyclists set off from the South Bank for London Critical Mass June ride, with it usual large police retinue, who sometimes block the front of the ride causing delays to traffic. Arriving at Brixton there was a minute's silence for Marie, who was killed by a motorist while cycling with a group of friends to the Carnival Against the Arms Trade outside EDO-MBM arms factory in Brighton on Wednesday 4th June 2008.
On the return journey the ride somehow got lost and had to double back. It then passed Stockwell Underground Station, where an innocent man Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police for which no one has since been held accountable, and then proceeded to the Oval, accompanied by the cheers of many bystanders. A short, impromptu street party was held under a railway bridge at Vauxhall. Then along the Embankment to Parliament Square where the ride was held up by police insisting that the sound systems be silenced. Under the stupid SOCPA legislation you can make as much noise as you like outside Parliament as long as you do not use a loudspeaker, but drivers are allowed to use their very LOUDspeakers in their vehicles.
On to Buckingham Palace with sound systems working again. It seems you can wake up the Queen with your loudspeakers but not Members of Parliament. Amazingly, a vibrant street party then took place outside the Palace while police just looked on.
See http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/402051.html http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/06/400604.html http://www.criticalmasslondon.org.uk/
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