h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Anti-war protestors once again disrupted Cardiff city centre on Thursday evening. Despite the pleas of the local police, a two-hour sit-in blocked first one half and then all of Kingsway, besides the castle. The protest was eventually peacefully dispersed by members of the Stop the War Coalition, although some arrests for "public disturbance" (getting in the way of a police van, and refusing to move on when asked) were made.

Although most of the protestors were students, people of all ages were present. The atmosphere was loud and enthusiastic, with drumming, dancing, football, painted children, and even a dancing Tony Blair with a mock missile labelled "Toys R Us". Pale orange, the sun shone down onto white crocuses through clouds that looked like smoke.

Approximately 50 people marched from the steps of the student union, after some initial police objections. The police requested prior notification of future protests, and pointed out that we should be sure to obey relevent health and safety legislation. Eventually the subdued student gathering was allowed to proceed, to the cheers of schoolchildren at a local theatre. Shouting "one week on, the war's still wrong!", they followed a police officer along Park Place and Queen Street to meet the smaller group at the Nye Bevan statue.

The protest began as a gathering around the statue. Trails of bird shit ran down the face of the NHS founder. At first, the loudest shouts came from a Christian preacher, but he was soon drowned out by anti-war chants. More and more people joined the protest, until roughly 300-400 people were present. A US flag was tied to the statue and burned - or rather, half-heartedly melted, since it was plastic. This probably got the loudest shouts from the crowd.

After around 20 minutes, the protest surged towards Kingsway, where a sit-in blocked one half of the road. The police tried to restrain people, but were ultimately unsuccessful and withdrew. They did, however, seem to have learned from their mistakes of the previous week - the sit-in was mostly allowed to proceed without the interference and phony ambulances that had been seen last time. The senior officer present intermittently wandered the crowd pleading with people to move, and many of the police present appeared to be the same ones who participated in the clashes of last week.

Ten minutes later, as nervous civil servants picked their way through the protest and curious onlookers lined the street, the other half of the street was blocked. There was no significant police intervention, although the CCTV camera above probably hadn't seen so much exercise in years. It moved up, down and around for the length of the sit-in.

At 6:30, large groups of police broke off and left around all the routes that could be taken if the protest chose to move. Only two or three were left as a visible presence, but there could be no doubt that there were significant numbers waiting in the wings. It was at this point that the protest headed west to the next junction. Some passersby made their anger felt; one driver tried to drive into a protester, and a pedestrian tore up a poster and shouted "f*****g fascists" at the mainly left-wing crowd before being distracted by two policemen.

At the request of the police, members of Stop the War tried to persuade the crowd to move back to Kingsway, but were shouted down. A police van drove alongside (not through) the protest, and was blocked by a number of protesters who were then mobbed and arrested by police. One woman screamed as she was held down by several officers twice her size and forcibly handcuffed. As she was taken away, the senior officer present protested that he was doing his best. In response to accusations of undue force, he said that all the events were on camera and would be looked into.

As people began to calm down, another protester made an announcement to the effect that if the protest did not move, there would be more arrests and more violence. The subsequent announcement that people should move to the police station to support those who had been taken away was more well taken, and virtually everyone moved back down Kingsway and around the corner.

Two men remained in the box junction. Five or six police officers surrounded them and attempted to persuade them to move, using such arguments as "there's no demonstration left to be a part of", and "you're allowed to peacefully demonstrate, but we want you to do it on the pavement". The two protesters calmly stated their intention to stay where they were until 7pm. With two minutes to go, and without violence, they were dragged away to a police van for disturbance and causing an obstruction.

The bulk of the protest had halted or been halted at Kingsway, and the sit-in had resumed. It was announced that the police would begin moving people on again in ten minutes' time. As a small child stood opposite a police officer three times his size, the protest was dispersed by members of STWC.