# [Sun 9th Oct 2011] UK Uncut to shut down Westminster Bridge in protest over NHS bill (London)



## editor (Sep 22, 2011)

Press release:
*UK Uncut to shut down Westminster Bridge in protest over NHS bill*

_Thousands expected to occupy one of London's most iconic landmarks on 9th October in last-ditch attempt to defeat bill condemned by doctors as 'undermining all that is precious about the NHS'_

 UK Uncut has announced that it is planning a spectacular act of mass civil disobedience in a last-ditch attempt to defeat the government's Health and Social Care bill [1]. The anti-austerity direct action group will bring traffic to a halt by blocking Westminster Bridge on Sunday 9th October, days before the final vote in the House of Lords.

 The bill, which will see private patients treated at the expense of NHS patients, healthcare workers made redundant and reduce the priority of treating chronic and complex conditions, will be voted on by the Lords on the 12th October [2]. The British Medical Association, the professional association of doctors in the UK, says the Bill "presents unacceptable risks to the NHS" and is calling for the Bill to be withdrawn [3]. Large numbers of Liberal Democrat peers are expected to rebel [4].

 Westminster Bridge, one of London's most iconic landmarks, lies between the Houses of Parliament on the north of the river and St. Thomas' Hospital on the south. UK Uncut claims that "by blocking Westminster Bridge, we symbolically block the bill from getting from Parliament to our hospitals". In a message to supporters entitled "Block the Bridge, Block the Bill", the group encourages participants to adopt tactics including lying in pools of fake blood, performing pretend operations and having picnics overlooking Parliament. They say the action will only go ahead if at least 1000 people indicate they will attend on Facebook but are confident that people will travel to London from all over the UK for the action.

 Activists say that they have been talking to unions, NGOs and other direct action groups who are all keen to support the action, including the provision of transport from other parts of the UK. The group is unapologetic in its call for mass civil disobedience, saying "Yes, it will be disruptive. Yes, it will stop the traffic. But this is an emergency and if we want to save our NHS we need to shout as loud as we can." It says it will maintain close contact with St. Thomas' in the run up to the protest and during it to ensure access for emergency vehicles.

 UK Uncut supporter Samina Khan said: "A leading doctor has said that this bill will 'produce an underclass of patients with chronic, debilitating illness', which isn't surprising when you invite private companies to exploit people's sickness for profit. I'll be on the bridge so that when my kids ask me what happened to the NHS, I can at least say 'I tried'."

 Ben Aden, a nurse in a hospital in north London, said: "The government's 'listening exercise' was a sham. All major medical bodies told the government to scrap the bill, but the government is only listening to the private healthcare corporations who stand to make billions from our illnesses. The bill wasn't in the Lib Dem manifesto. It wasn't in the Tory manifesto. None of us voted for this. When the government show such a blatant disregard for democracy, it's right to engage in civil disobedience. This is our last chance to save the NHS."

 [1] www.ukuncut.org.uk/blog/block-the-bridge-block-the-bill
 [2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2011/sep/06/nhs-reforms-still-privatisation
 [3] http://www.bma.org.uk/healthcare_policy/nhs_white_paper/
 [4] http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2011/09/20/trouble-ahead-lib-dems-take-on-nhs-reform

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=277040145648345


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## gawkrodger (Sep 25, 2011)

is it just me who thinks this incredibly poorly thought out?


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## Crispy (Sep 25, 2011)

Bring water, food, warm & dry clothes and a pot to piss in. You'll be there a long time.
No need for bus money though - there will be plenty of opportunities to get a lift in a car.


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## gawkrodger (Sep 25, 2011)

quite


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## GarfieldLeChat (Sep 29, 2011)

gawkrodger said:


> is it just me who thinks this incredibly poorly thought out?


in what way.

It won't stop the bill but it is time to start occupying public spaces in opposition to the current powers what be... hell it's not like we have a military police who will gun us down ala the arab spring why be so apathetic...


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## BigTom (Oct 2, 2011)

blatant kettle. If there's enough people there I don't think there will be mass arrests. They only nicked us from f&m for intelligence and bumping arrest number purposes. If they want more intelligence there's free coaches going down that they can place undercover on. They might be out looking for some people they want to nick, and if it dwindles down to a small number (under 100) they'll nick people.
Basically imo it hangs on getting enough people there to stop them arresting everyone. I hope that it will attract many of the not the usual direct action type people, either older people who used to do DA when they were younger, or people who have never done more than march on official routes.
Because there was no demo for the nhs, and lots of people feel guilty about that.. they want to be able to say that they did something.. pure guilt alleviation obv.. When uk uncut said they had free coaches, my opinion of this changed (despite raised eyebrows about the coaches - if I go, I won't be travelling down by coach) because i felt that there was a good chance of them getting thousands out for this.
If I go, and there's no kettle at 3pm (or they are letting people leave one by one via FIT photographers), that's when I'll be leaving. After 4pm 100% kettle, before that they *might* (and I'm not hopeful of this) let people leave as they want, but obviously not let anyone enter. Depends on how many people/make up of the crowd imo.


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## ViolentPanda (Oct 2, 2011)

gawkrodger said:


> is it just me who thinks this incredibly poorly thought out?



I don't agree, I think that the organisation is *deliberately* diffuse. After all, the non-standard, non-hierarchical system of (non)-organisation has stood UK Uncut in good stead before.
As for any legal implications (given the "exclusion zone") around Parliament; well, that's for the appropriate authorities to deal with, and a devil of a job they'll have trying to do so without showing themselves up for what they are - paid thugs who are so stupid that they're enforcing the laws of the same group of people who are shitting on *them* too.


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## ViolentPanda (Oct 2, 2011)

GarfieldLeChat said:


> in what way.
> 
> It won't stop the bill but it is time to start occupying public spaces in opposition to the current powers what be... hell it's not like we have a military police who will gun us down ala the arab spring why be so apathetic...



Well, that's the question, isn't it?
What we need to be asking is: "Do the vast mass of people in the UK still feel like they have much to lose through taking individual and community action against the cuts?". If the answer is still "yes, I might lose my job if I get nicked, and that could mean losing my home/girlfriend/vintage motorcycle", then there's a reason for "apathy".

Of course, that doesn't mean that down the line, when the cuts have dumped another couple of million on the dole, and another couple of hundred thousand on the streets, that things won't start moving, but I personally think that too many people who are going to be affected haven't reached the tipping point where they're actually feeling personal pain from the government's exercise in financial butchery.

Yet.


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## BigTom (Oct 2, 2011)

ViolentPanda said:


> I don't agree, I think that the organisation is *deliberately* diffuse. After all, the non-standard, non-hierarchical system of (non)-organisation has stood UK Uncut in good stead before.
> As for any legal implications (given the "exclusion zone") around Parliament; well, that's for the appropriate authorities to deal with, and a devil of a job they'll have trying to do so without showing themselves up for what they are - paid thugs who are so stupid that they're enforcing the laws of the same group of people who are shitting on *them* too.



I think Gawkrodger's issue is to do with the fact that a bridge is the easiest place to kettle ever.  If the police want to nick people, you're basically handing them to them on a plate.  No chance to run to get away (unless you think you can dive into and swim the thames, i wouldn't fancy that.. probably a good chance of dying straight from the dive off the bridge), little chance to break police lines, it's not like they'll be overstretched..

Really, i agree with him, and like I said this working in anyway depends on getting enough people down - in the thousands not the hundreds.  When we were kettled there on dec 9th, eventually they had to let us go without searches or photographs - they pulled a few people aside to be photo'd but not many from what I saw.  Def. a kettle, but as long as you are ready, prepared and have a good bladder, I don't really see that as an issue, it's just part of what you accept will happen if you decide to go - been to demo's in the past on the basis that we were going to get kettled, always have somewhere i can stay in london that I can just call them up and wake them if I need to..
Arrests are a different matter of course, but do those who are all  about this think that mass arrests of many hundreds of people are likely?


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## gunneradt (Oct 2, 2011)

sounds an abolutely dumb idea to me

wont even hold up traffic which can easily be diverted over other bridges.


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## BigTom (Oct 2, 2011)

gunneradt said:


> sounds an abolutely dumb idea to me
> 
> wont even hold up traffic which can easily be diverted over other bridges.



I think if holding up traffic was the point they wouldn't be doing it on a sunday.. This is a pure photo op / guilt alleviation exercise, and the opportunity for mass civil disobedience which will draw some more people away from just marching from a to b.


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## joevsimp (Oct 2, 2011)

Unfortunately, some of us definitely would get sacked if we don't turn up for work on Monday due to being in Paddington Green nick, and it's just not worth the risk for this kind of exercise, as much as it sickens me to have to say that


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## gunneradt (Oct 2, 2011)

BigTom said:


> I think if holding up traffic was the point they wouldn't be doing it on a sunday.. This is a pure photo op / guilt alleviation exercise, and the opportunity for mass civil disobedience which will draw some more people away from just marching from a to b.



i doubt anyone will notice while eating sunday lunch


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## ska invita (Oct 2, 2011)

gawkrodger said:


> is it just me who thinks this incredibly poorly thought out?


My immediate response was just that - if theres a turn out it becomes a life-threatening crush (especially if kettled - very likely), just like at the student demo on the day of the vote. Hopefully it will all be fine, but theres nowhere to run to when you're on a bridge and the charge comes in.


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## sihhi (Oct 2, 2011)

Why  Sunday? Why not Saturday? Does anyone know?


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## BigTom (Oct 2, 2011)

sihhi said:


> Why Sunday? Why not Saturday? Does anyone know?


I have two possible explanations for that:
1) there's a big stop the war demo on sat
2) doing it on a sunday means less disruption which helps for an argument to say that the police should just let it happen, setup diversions for what traffic there is and not kettle/arrest people..


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## OneStrike (Oct 4, 2011)

I'm coming to this, though not sure what to expect.  Those attending are basically accepting a kick-in with no escape if the numbers are of a certain region.  Count me in, but the police can control it easily barring any truly inspirational spin-off ideas to confuse them.  Bad day for the bridge street scammers at least.


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## BigTom (Oct 5, 2011)

List of Free coaches

There's 10 listed there.. ave of say 35 people = 350 on coaches travelling (the Brum one is 53 seats and we've got 45 or so bookings so far, I think others like the Telford one will be smaller)
Bulk of people will come from London anyway, or not travel on coaches - I know quite a few who are at the Rebellious Media Conference or Stop the War on saturday and coming to this on Sunday.

2,700 odd attending the facebook event.  If this doesn't get over 1,000 people I'll be disappointed.


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## OneStrike (Oct 5, 2011)

Who is funding the coaches?


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## shaman75 (Oct 5, 2011)

I'm going to go.

There may be a kettle and I agree it's a great place to kettle.  But hey, it's not going to stop the bridge being blocked, whether it's a line of riot police of a big crowd of people...


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## BigTom (Oct 5, 2011)

OneStrike said:


> Who is funding the coaches?


I don't know. My guess is Lush ("ethical" cosmetics company), who chucked a load of cash GBC's way earlier this year and seem keen to fund (what for Liberals pass as) radical political groups in the fight against cuts.
or the police, who are looking for more intelligence.

I don't know, but I trust UK Uncut's central people to have got the money from somewhere that is not obviously wrong.  It's clearly a good thing for the police though if they want to gather more intelligence, and we might even find coaches are turned back by police.  But I also know that the coach from Birmingham is going to have a fair few going who couldn't afford to go otherwise.


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## OneStrike (Oct 5, 2011)

Cheers, while trusting the organisers I remain suspicious about the arrangements.  Still, going to make my own way down, i guess we'll see on Sunday.


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## shaman75 (Oct 5, 2011)

ignore me, i just quoted something already in the original post.


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## BigTom (Oct 5, 2011)

OneStrike said:


> Cheers, while trusting the organisers I remain suspicious about the arrangements. Still, going to make my own way down, i guess we'll see on Sunday.



Yes, I feel exactly the same, have been clear about warning people about the likelyhood of police being on the coach, and the possibilty of it getting turned back.  I never like travelling on coaches to demos anyway.


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## Struwwelpeter (Oct 5, 2011)

This could go well given it clashes with this:  http://royalparkshalf.com/
The bridge will already be closed for the event (the website's shit, you have to click on the "Ambassadors" button to get the route map).


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## BigTom (Oct 5, 2011)

Struwwelpeter said:


> This could go well given it clashes with this: http://royalparkshalf.com/
> The bridge will already be closed for the event (the website's shit, you have to click on the "Ambassadors" button to get the route map).



hmm.. that's interesting.. the race starts at 10:30am, and finishes by 2pm, and the bridge is close to the start of the route, so they'll be well out of the way by the time the uk uncut action starts at 1pm, presumably the road closure will be gone by then as well.
It's obviously an extra complication - one which I hope uk uncut are aware of (and I've emailed them about just in case)


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## bingiman (Oct 6, 2011)

I will try and go.  The NHS is pretty important and it is about to be broken up and sold off.
The people running the PCT's and commissioning services will just go freelance and make a killing.
And there will be no improvement.  I have no desire to be in a kettle and as usual will try and use my head, but I haven't yet seen any save the NHS demonstrations and the bill is about to go through parliament.


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## campanula (Oct 7, 2011)

making our banner right now


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## bingiman (Oct 7, 2011)

Definitely going, maybe a few others coming now as well


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## shaman75 (Oct 9, 2011)

Bridge closed to traffic from 1pm to 6pm, according to the Met's website, for a static demonstration.

http://content.met.police.uk/Event/Static-Demonstration/1400003603112/1257246745828


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## editor (Oct 9, 2011)

I agree that perhaps this action isn't the most focussed, but this issue is far too important not to go, so I'm leaving shortly.

Anyone else going?


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## Jeff Robinson (Oct 9, 2011)

Good luck ed. Sadly I am unable to go, but this is an important action - be sure to get some snaps for us.


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## teqniq (Oct 9, 2011)

I am at work alas, it seems to be my constant refrain when it comes to demos, but I hope it goes well. I have at least one mate from the 'Diff attending, all the best to all of you. 

E2a from Twitter:



> Dear MetPolice. Please remember you are only a compulsory redundancy away from joining us. Play nice... #BlockTheBridge #SaveOurNHS #UKuncut


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## teqniq (Oct 9, 2011)

Sweet fuck all about this on BBC news24, they ought to be ashamed of themselves. All they are reporting from central London is Paul McCartney's wedding. Jesus fucking H. Christ.

E2A Twitter



> Chinese student says 'main stream media black out, I feel at home' #blockthebill via @kaygeeuk#BlocktheBridge #Censorship #MSMfail


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## butchersapron (Oct 9, 2011)

Some pics


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Oct 9, 2011)

Bah, How did I miss this. It's a bit late now.


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## Hocus Eye. (Oct 9, 2011)

The media won't have been blacking out this news. It is just that it is Sunday and they are all down the pub or on the golf-course. I hve been on many a a demonstration on a Sunday to see nothing on the news when we got home.

Similarly on a Saturday during football season, it gets pushed aside by sports news unless it is really big with a bit of drama going on.


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## butchersapron (Oct 9, 2011)

Some guardian stuff


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## shaman75 (Oct 9, 2011)




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## shaman75 (Oct 9, 2011)

Some of my pics:

















http://entoptika.co.uk/block-the-bridge/


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## shaman75 (Oct 9, 2011)

> @CO11MetPolice Metropolitan Police
> 
> A group not associated with @*UKuncut* have attempted an impromptu march via Lambeth Bridge #*BlocktheBill* #*blockthebridge*
> 53 seconds ago via web



http://twitter.com/#!/CO11MetPolice/status/123064129966714880


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## shaman75 (Oct 9, 2011)

> CO11MetPolice Metropolitan Police
> 
> A group of protestors not affiliated to @*UKuncut* have been stopped to enable police to remove their disguises #*BlocktheBill* #*blockthebridge*
> 18 seconds ago


http://twitter.com/#!/CO11MetPolice/status/123065725106651136



> @rj_gallagher Ryan Gallagher
> 
> One officer just pushed a man inside the kettle because he was standing outside it filming and didn't have a press card. #*blockthebill*
> 3 minutes ago


http://twitter.com/#!/rj_gallagher/status/123065303491026944


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## shaman75 (Oct 9, 2011)

> latentexistence Latent Steve
> 
> _by Fitwatcher_
> 
> ...


http://twitter.com/#!/latentexistence/status/123066037984968704


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## shaman75 (Oct 9, 2011)

Live broadcast here: http://bambuser.com/channel/bc_tmh/broadcast/2030568


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## shaman75 (Oct 9, 2011)

> @WebbPix Pete
> 
> Press being contained on lambeth bridge. Pushed by police officer into kettle and exit refused despite having a press card
> 14 minutes


http://twitter.com/#!/WebbPix/status/123065626754424832


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## butchersapron (Oct 9, 2011)

Next hour or so as it gets dark to determine where this is going...


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## Ground Elder (Oct 9, 2011)

shaman75 said:


> Live broadcast here: http://bambuser.com/channel/bc_tmh/broadcast/2030568


It's not live


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## shaman75 (Oct 9, 2011)

Ground Elder said:


> It's not live



DOH.  sorry.


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## treelover (Oct 9, 2011)

The delightful Louise Mensch, not,  has tweeted to '#Occupywallstreeters to #occupyashower.'


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## treelover (Oct 9, 2011)

'I support these protests. I live in the US, and the way it works here is that if you don't have money to pay for health care, you die. People of the UK! Don't let the government take away your NHS, one of the finest things about your country. And remember that the NHS was created at the end of WWII, when Britain was devastated both materially and financially. If the NHS could be created under those terrible conditions, there is no reason it cannot be maintained today in a country with many wealthy people (including the aged rock star and his latest marriage).'

a warning and a valorisation of the NHS from a US citizen on CIF


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## editor (Oct 9, 2011)

Pics here: http://www.urban75.org/blog/block-the-bridge-save-the-nhs-protest-westminster-bridge-photos/


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## spliff (Oct 9, 2011)

Crikey! How times change.
My brother and I were arrested at an OZ demo in 1971 for asking the crowd to give us an 'F' give us a 'U' etc..etc.... What'd that spell?
We got fined £3 each for breach of the peace.


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## Kaka Tim (Oct 10, 2011)

Well done to everyone who was on this.


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## BigTom (Oct 10, 2011)

well that was enjoyable, especially the comic bloc - far better than politicos speaking.. no kettle on the bridge, no trouble that I saw, though I left around 4:30 and didn't join the breakaway group that got kettled on lambeth bridge.
Thing is that it felt as though they had permission to do this.  Perhaps I'm wrong, but it seems that way.  Not really civil disobedience, though certainly a slightly more radical form of rally/demo than normal.. and far, far better than the TUC's candlelight vigil bullshit.

still nice to be on a car free westminster bridge, reminded me of RTS demos in that sense, felt fairly similar too in that there was no stage/centrally organised speakers.. open assembly about occupy LSX and the comic bloc organised autonomously afaik, although people def. connected to uk uncut involved with both of them.


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## ohmyliver (Oct 10, 2011)

even the Daily Heil is writing positivly about it
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-close-protest-Government-health-reforms.html


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## Steady Eddie (Oct 10, 2011)

I passed across Westminster Bridge at about 2:45pm and there was only about a thousand people on there, to be generous. There were even joggers passing through without having to stop. All I could see were the usual placard wavers, bongo players and the obligatory SWP stall. Some of the costumes were quite creative though!


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## bingiman (Oct 10, 2011)

There was a good feeling about this one. Yes it didn't cause much disruption, but I think where we are right now, at this moment, is the stage of convincing people that civil disobedience is a real alternative. And with that in mind, the more actions like this the better, as they can only help that process.


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