London Assembly member, Jenny Jones, is urging anti-war and environmental protestors to join those demonstrations which are fun, small scale and in keeping with the tradition of non violent dissent which has become well established in this country.
Pressure from the Greens on the MPA led to a softer and more flexible approach to policing at last year’s May Day celebrations and less reliance on the much criticized penning operation from the year before.
Jenny Jones said,"We have a great tradition of civil disobedience in this country and it has a legitimate part in any May Day celebrations, from Lord Russell being arrested in Trafalgar Square in the early days of CND, through to Greenham Common and Swampy and the anti road building protests of the Nineties.
Civil disobedience became a mainstream part of British life with the widespread non payment of the poll tax and ever since then community campaigners have been peacefully blocking everything from the construction of super stores on greenfield sites, through to the erection of mobile phone masts.
Most of the people joining these anti-globalisation protests are part of this peaceful tradition and should be policed accordingly."
Jenny continued,"At their best, the May Day protests are a graphic and symbolic means of drawing attention to neglected issues, and capturing hearts and minds through political theatre.
At their worse, they are unfocused outbursts of anger organised by people who have failed to draw boundaries not
only around their political objectives, but also around the means by which they might be pursued.
The organisers and participants at the May Day protests must clearly condemn violent protest and the police must give people the liberty to make their point."
ENDS