Democracy Village

A bunch of anti-war protestors, led by Brian Haw, seem to be squatting in front of Parliament on the Square.

My first thoughts were that they should stay because of free speech and the rest of it, and that I'd like the laws restricting protest around Parliament repealed. But looking into it more, thinking through it, reading around, came up with a few things - but mainly that there's a difference between a protest and creating a squatter settlement on Parliament Square.

Yes, there's a right to protest, including in front of Parliament. But it's a bit difficult to protest when Parliament Square, as I read earlier, is monopolised by the Socialist Worker-types who oppose your protest and probably wouldn't be happy to see someone else protesting there. There's no space to protest. I think we have to differentiate between a protest and a sit-in settlement. Fair enough if the government has rigged an election, but it hasn't. It looks ugly, they are being disrespectful (pissing on statues and stuff), and someone should come along and (try to?) protest against the fox hunting ban or something, to see what they think.

It's not a protest - it's squatting. Protests yes, actually living in front of Parliament, no.

G20 Protests - Ian Tomlinson

I've normally defended the police's actions in the protests, but this is different.

Video footage

This is just an unprovoked attack on someone who wasn't causing any trouble. The officer in question should be sacked.