There were two protests from 2pm today, one outside #10 Downing Street and the other outside the embassy as normal. The Downing Street protest had already been planned before anyone knew how the UNSC had voted and a lot of people came down from Manchester and other parts of the UK to attend. Because of the good news and the role the UK prime minister David Cameron had played (drafting and proposing the resolution alongside France and Lebanon) today was a strange kind of "protest" in that a lot of the chants were saying "thank you", for example:
"Well done Cam-er-on, Ga-da-fi on the run"
"Britain and France, Gadafi No Chance"
"Thank you U.K., Ga-da-fi run away!
...as well as some songs and chants in arabic and various other chants calling Gadafi a murderer, terrorist, criminal etc. etc. At one point an official government car entering Downing Street (possibly the PM himself but hard to tell). It got a great big cheer from the protesters.
Some photos (full gallery here: https://picasaweb.google.com/teejayuk/March192011# )
Flags: France (left) UK (middle) & pre-gadafi Libya (red, black & green with Ottoman star and crescent):
Signs:
Around 4.30pm everyone started marching up to the embassy, where they joined the regular daily protest opposite the embassy.
The atmosphere today was very upbeat compared with yesterday before the final UNSC vote, but of course we should remember that today Gadafi was still attacking Misurata (the third largest city in Libya, after Tripoli and Benghazi and the countries 'business capital').
Press conference in Whitehall
The London embassy and ambassador is still loyal to Gadafi, his green flag still flies outside and some small green flags have appeared on the roof where yesterday afternoon anti-Gadafi protesters had held out for 37 hours and hoisted there own red, black and green Libyan flag.
Amazigh (sometimes called "Berber") flag & sticker:
Blue = The sea
Green = Where plants grow
Yellow = The Desert
Red = 'Z' character in the Tifinagh alphabet, standing for "Amazigh" = the people = a free person
More information: wikipedia
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