Hundreds of thousands of concerned people gathered for the Together Alliance on Saturday 28th March lining Park Lane from Marble Arch to Hyde Park as they waited for the start of what would turn out to be the biggest multi-cultural demonstrations of commitment to a world free of the spectre of fascism, racism and far right politics generally. A colourful and good-humoured crowd wound their way through the streets from various points in Park Lane to the two end points of Whitehall and Trafalgar Square to the sounds of drumming and samba bands which have long been the cheerful soundtracks to many marches and demonstrations.
The blocs worked reasonably well although with so many trying to find their ‘tribe’ some blockages and long static moments were inevitable, but people were good humoured and patient. The march was led off just before I pm and the head of the march arrived in Whitehall at approximately 2.30 to be told that the people were yet to start moving from Park Lane and informed excitedly that the numbers were at that point estimated to be at around half a million, this was greeted with loud cheers. This was to be disputed later with police estimates at only 50,000, par for the course since police always under-estimate while organisers tend to over-estimate.
Speeches began at this point and the crush became unbearable for some, with more and more marchers joining the crowds around the stage opposite Downing Street. Speakers included Zack Polanski, Billy Bragg and Diane Abbott. There were banners from trade unions, migrant and refugee solidarity groups, a faith bloc, an anti-Zionist Jewish bloc, LGBTQ folks and civil rights organisations. Notable also were splendid blue and yellow banners of the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign with their singers, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and NGOs such as Amnesty International, Oxfam, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace as well as the Green Party, women’s and disabled groups and many others political and apolitical, but all with a common cause. It was all extremely colourful, witty and noisy. Disobliging placards bore caricatures of Farage, Starmer and Trump!
There were some arrests, with police swooping onto an eighteen strong Palestine Action support group, shamefully, and a couple of public disorder apprehensions also. The event was overpoliced, in my opinion. The use of private security and Trafalgar Square being entirely closed off with just one complicated entry and exit point at opposite sides of the square, leant a feeling of control to the day. It was largely well organised and with a very big turnout expected safety had to be a major concern. As for numbers they will be debated and disputed for a while to come but certainly by 4.30 as the cold began to creep in and the official 5pm official cutoff point approaching the march people still streamed by the ranks a bit thinner by then but still ongoing.
Whatever and whoever, it was a mass mobilisation of plenty of fine people committed to countering and defeating the far right, plus some dubious elements in the mix notably those carrying the flags of the Iranian Shah’s time and even some with banners praising the current regime, and again shamefully some far left antisemitic sympathisers too, a very broad coalition indeed! But it was a good day overall with plenty of colour, humour, music and diversity and I’m sure some productive connections were made, I don’t think anybody with any sense thinks that this will be sufficient though.
Photos: Peter Arkell
Great account and reflection of the Together Alliance march. Diversity and multicultural backgrounds key to the movement.
In other parts of the country , there were smaller stands against racism, and we stood in solidarity with all those in London