What, if any, does a tour company need to organise a tour of historic sites in London? Wouldn't need to go in them, just view them from the outside.
Hundreds of tours take place in London every day without contravening the 'mass gathering' laws (can you see where this is going).
I was thinking - would it be possible to organise a 'Charity Tour' of some of the sites (Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, etc) for a largish group of people. Have a token cost for everyone which will give you a free commemerative t-shirt (something simple like an anti-war slogan or the declaration of human rights dealing with free speech or anti-torture with the tours dates and maybe a witty non-threatening/political commentquote on the back). The fee is optional and any up to the each person how much they pay (with a reccommend amount covering base t-shirt price but waved for those who couldn't afford that). Any additional cash raised would be donated to a good cause - for instance Amnesty International.
This way we could have a bundle of people going round a few sites of note taking photos and having fun, raising money for charity :p
If we didn't get shouty at the police then they shouldn't really have any grounds to stop us, although I think in some areas we'd probably still get a talking to...
Hundreds of tours take place in London every day without contravening the 'mass gathering' laws (can you see where this is going).
I was thinking - would it be possible to organise a 'Charity Tour' of some of the sites (Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, etc) for a largish group of people. Have a token cost for everyone which will give you a free commemerative t-shirt (something simple like an anti-war slogan or the declaration of human rights dealing with free speech or anti-torture with the tours dates and maybe a witty non-threatening/political commentquote on the back). The fee is optional and any up to the each person how much they pay (with a reccommend amount covering base t-shirt price but waved for those who couldn't afford that). Any additional cash raised would be donated to a good cause - for instance Amnesty International.
This way we could have a bundle of people going round a few sites of note taking photos and having fun, raising money for charity :p
If we didn't get shouty at the police then they shouldn't really have any grounds to stop us, although I think in some areas we'd probably still get a talking to...
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angusabranson- Angus Abranson
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The issue as I see it is one of free speech and civil liberties, which have been consistently eroded by this legislation.
Nah, I really liked your idea of mass protest around the exclusion zone. Give everyone a candle with the word Freedom on it and have everyone light it at the same time.
Then *that* would get media attention because you could start playing up the angle of difference between a group of people going round looking at historic sites wearing a unifrom or t-shirts with slogans on and those who do not. It would sound like the authorities were clamping down on dresscode and freedom of expression.
The *tour* idea would be mainly to have a legal backpost that we could use if we were hassled/ended up in the docks. The act itself would generate little to no media attention (unless we started properly running tours based upon the concept with associated website, etc - although you couldn't mention the word 'protest' in any of the blurb because that would be an excuse to stop people from entering certain areas or arresting them if they did.)
Unless! You managed to seemingly coincide it with another event that the press would cover there anyway and then you could get your spot on London News. Guerilla Marketting eat your heart out! That would work I think - anyway count me in. I promise to be a pacifist for the day and the FIT (Forward Intelligence Teams - police who spy on protesters) don't have anything on me other than purely peaceful appearances, but will get you some stuff on what to do when arrested, if you want.
We could organise a protest on the outskirts sure, and that is certainly one thing we're looking into. But we also want to cause some legal hassle concerning this law. Throw challenges at it to see if we can break it or find the loophole that would allow people to be there in protest without actually being 'protesters' so to speak.