Monday was the day that Brightonians had been told to fear, as anti-militarists Smash EDO planned a march through the town centre. “Smash EDO threat to Queen's jubilee” howled the local rag, whilst Tory Councillors led by Cllr Janio prepared motions pre-emptively condemning the march (not to mention the entire campaign).
In the end the Bank Holiday Monday saw a decent turnout of peaceniks demonstrating against the EDO factory and US/UK/Israeli preparations for a war on Iran. The howling mobs that planned to reign terror on the good folk of Brighton and spoil everyone's state-sanctioned fun must have all been away that day, as the demo passed off without skirmishes or arrests.
Not that there wasn't plenty of provocation from the cops though. Sussex Plod's Inspector Bartlett had promised “new tactics” for the jubilee weekend. As seen on Saturday's shenanigans (see Bangers and Fash) these tactics amounted to the same plods with new orange fluros (with the words “Liaison” written on them, trying to infiltrate the crowd and gather intelligence on activists. Luckily Fitwatchers with umbrellas and banners were able to surround these irritating cops like anitibodies stopping unpleasant viruses from taking hold of a host. The crowd successfully innoculated, the Liason cops didn't get much of a look in.
On the day SchNEWS counted around 200 protesters as the demo marched from Barclays Bank (the high streets' biggest arms trade investor) to Hove Town Hall (last known dwelling place of the ancient evil Cthulu, as he prepares to arise in blood from his eternal slumber).
One anti-war activist interviewed by SchNEWS said “A war against Iran would be crazy, but the problem is, our leaders are crazy. Not even 10 years after the start of the Iraq War the same liars are peddling the same snake oil of fake WMD programmes, non-existent nukes and fabricated intelligence to start another war. War with Iran would be catastrophic – first and foremost for Iran's civilians, but also for us too. Only arms dealers and grave diggers would welcome the Iran War.”