All very well-mannered and polite

On Friday I nipped down into bristol town centre for a protest against ID cards, sparked by the government’s somewhat secret ID card roadshow and organised by Bristol NO2ID. I don’t usually like demonstrations, prefering to rant on my blog and annoy my friends instead (though I made an exception for the anti-war demos). I was a bit nervous about what might happen, after Gateshead. But it was very civilised. David Gould did a bit of a Paxman on the minister Andy Burnham (“how much will it cost, minister?”) but the rest of us gave out a few leaflets, had a bit of a chat with some passers-by, held up some banners for the cameras, and made the BBC local evening news in a rather lighthearted piece, and a bit in the Bristol Evening Post. After about an hour, the security guard asked us very politely to leave, and we’d run out of leaflets any way, so we left, happy that we’d provided a bit of a counterpoint to the government information.
Very nice to meet people – about half were women, and there were a few geeks too. Blue Lou: “you’re all so respectable!”
My photos, NO2ID site, Liberty.
Update: mp4 of BBC Points West news item (thanks shellac!).