Saturday’s main event was organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, made up of over a hundred organisations whose only common feature is their concern over climate change and which have a combined membership of around 11 million – about 1 in 6 of the UK population.
I first came across them a few months back when they organised a demonstration outside the Department of Energy and Climate Change and minister Ed Miliband came out in person to speak to them.
A real Minister (with a worried aide) and a false cardinal with other demonstrators outside the DECC in September.
Although they didn’t succeed in getting all 11 million to come to ‘The Wave’ there were roughly 50,000 marching though London (so many that some were still at Trafalgar Square or in Whitehall at 3pm and missed the actual wave when Parliament was surrounded) making this the largest demonstration on climate change in the UK to date.
If the main event lacked the political bite of the Campaign Against Climate Change (who were taking part as one member of the coalition) there was certainly plenty of enthusiasm, fancy dress and blue face paint to make for some visually striking images. The ‘Wave’ itself was perhaps something of an anti-climax, and the crush of photographers close to Big Ben at the head of the demonstration made photography difficult.
Especially those photographers who hold their large DSLRs out at arms length in front of other photographers. Photographic etiquette generally stops other still photographers from actually walking in front of you as you are taking pictures (nothing stops some guys taking video), but somehow a growing number seem to think its OK if you just hold your camera in front of others.
More pictures from the march and the final wave on My London Diary.