The March Against Monsanto on Saturday 25 May 2013 attracted rather more attention than in some years partly because Bianca Jagger was to speak.
It had been intended to hold a static rally on the pavement in front of Parliament Square which is controlled by Westminster Council, but there were more people than could fit on this.
The protest began to spill over on to the grass of the square where the authorities are particularly sensitive about protests after it was occupied by the Democracy Village peace camp in 2010.
Police suggested to the organisers that they move to Old Palace Yard, where there is more space for the rally, and they did so.
The London rally was one of many taking place around the world as an annual global ‘March Against Monsanto’.
Bianca Jagger has a long history of working for human rights and environmental causes – receiving for the latter the Green Globe Award from the Rainbow Alliance in 1997, and the United Nations Earth Day Award in 1994. Among over events I photographed her at several protests against mining company Vedanta.
She was followed by a number of other speakers stressing the danger of GM foods and biofuels and calling for some more organised action against them.
Hare Krishna had come and were providing free food for all who wanted it – but as usual I had brought my own sandwiches – always safer for a long-term diabetic. At the end of the rally their bike-hauled band with drum kit, amps and speakers arrived.
The event had been planned as a static rally, but soon the band was leading most of those present in a march around Parliament Square and up Whitehall where they stopped for a brief protest at the gates of Downing Street.
The march continued up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square where I left them – the band was returning to its base in Soho.
On My London Diary there is a very brief account of the problems of GMO foods and the particular dangers posed by Monsanto and their relationship with the US Food and Drugs Administration, as well as many more pictures: March Against Monsanto.
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