I've been a bit slow with this post, but I hope you all don't mind too much!
On wednesday, I joined the climate camp protest in London
The protest was against the government policy of carbon trading as a solution to climate change- basically buying rights to carbon reduction abroad, to justify building coal power stations and expanding airports here.
The idea was to take over Bishopsgate, a busy street in the middle of London's financial district, and occupy it for 24 hours. Here's how it went...
, unlike other protests in the city where there had been lots of violence. 
I survived, met some brilliant people, and the camp has had some very positive media support, as well as support from the Lib Dem party.
What concerned me, however, was the way the police managed the situation. It was a completely peaceful protest, yet they used approaches which were approved as legal for riots.
There was a definite 'kick the hippies' attitude among many of them, although it seemed worse at the other major protest, by the bank of england. Here, several thousand people were also kettled, because a hardcore few broke into the royal bank of scotland and threw office equiptment of of the window. One guy died, which is particularly horrible, because it was originally reported that this was due to natural causes, but it has since emerged that the poor man worked in a shop nearby, and was trying to leave to go home when he was attacked by police. He died of a heart attack shortly after.
Some of the actions do smack of police brutality, and I really hope there is an inquiry into their behaviour on the day.
Still, the camp was super successful, and I am really proud to have been a part of it!
