London climate change demonstration on Saturday

I met up with green economist Derek Wall at Hyde Park to listen to speeches from Green Euro MP Caroline Lucas, the Bolivian Ambassador and others. Caroline was excellent, speaking about the Green New Deal, climate justice and the need for a grassroots direct action campaign to spur politicians to move beyond carbon markets to real action. All the greens seem to think she has a very good chance of winning Brighton in the next general election.

There was a relatively small crowd at Hyde Park but by the time we had reached Parliament it had swelled to a huge crowd. Newspaper estimates say 30,000 but as usual I think this underestimated. It was a most interesting juxtaposition marching through Mayfair, but the crowd was very well behaved. Police were few and discreet, having come under much criticism recently for their policing of demo's, especially since killing one man during a 'kettling' maneuver.

Some people have set up a Climate Camp in Trafagar Square apparently, so I plan to head down. In the meantime, here's some pics: