Anxious Wait: Peaceful Protest - London BLM

I cycled up to London to see a friend in Charlton, then back into the centre to try out my new lens at the Tate / Millennium Bridge. I planned to go to the Black Lives Matter protest, but heard it was off due to the threats from the far-right and football ‘firms’, as they planned to protect statues. Whilst I didn’t see it, I heard they stood by Churchill’s entombed statue and gave nazi salutes - you can’t argue with ignorance like that. Anyway, I made my way to Trafalgar Sq. and was met with police lining the streets and closing the road. They sent me on my way and after the third blockade, I found that they would let people through from Charing Cross Road, by St. Martin’s in the Fields. I asked a policeman if it was okay to go through, it was, so long as I didn’t mind being kept there. I didn’t know what protest was taking place at that point, so was very relieved to find the Black Lives Matter protest, albeit, somewhat smaller as they’d moved the official protest forward to Friday. The police were right, I did get held in while they organised the move of the protest. It got a little tense, as persistent members of the far right were being turned away by police. The horses moved in, I moved up the steps of the church with my camera and bike and an explosive went off, from where I do not know, but didn’t seem to add to the tension. Then wave by wave, the police lines moved the protest on to Leicester Square with no further trouble. I left them there and headed to China town for more pictures, then cycled home. All in all, I was happy to be on the BLM side of the dividing line and next time I’ll leave my bike at home and join them properly.

Done