Reclaim The Streets - Mayday 2000

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Ooh! An Anarchist! Did you know putting a hood up and wearing a scarf is now illegal?

Back at Trafalgar Square the horses had arrived which made some people in the crowd quite nervous. The feeling was we were about to be charged. Yet everyone stayed put.

Random shot of the crowd. The horses were removed for some reason and two lines of police took their place and slowly moved forwards.

As the police moved forwards more people came up from Parliament Square and the side roads were secured. The crowd became denser.

The area became quiet. Too quiet. Then suddenly people started scattering.

I wasn't facing the police line but as soon as people around me started the move I ran as fast as I could away from them. Waving the camera over my shoulder I got this shot of a girl behind me. You'll notice she's smiling. I was too. As I ran the adrenaline pumped through my body and I started laughing, a big grin over my face. I suddenly understood why people come to these things purely for a ruck with the police, why people go to football matches purely for a fight. I felt more alive than I'd ever felt before. My life was in danger, at the very least I could be cracked over the head with a truncheon or dragged off an arrested, but I fucking loved it. For one moment I was truly a human being.

It turned out the police had just rushed forwards 50 or so yards and subsequently continued their slow march towards Parliament Square. It became apparent at this stage that we had been cordoned in and could not get out.

Eventually everyone who wasn't at Trafalgar Square was at the other end of Whitehall with a ring of riot police holding us in. Nothing happened for a while.

Somebody set fire to a bunch of balloons and let them go over Big Ben making this striking image.

Suddenly everyone was gathering at the St Margaret's St exit to the square between the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, the word being we were going to force our way through. Eventually the mass of people was too much for the police and the crowd surged forwards. I remember the look of fear on these police as the cheering and whistling crowd walked past them. To be honest they had nothing to fear. The protest was over. Most people just wanted to get home.

Walking past Parliament away from the square.

Lots of whistling and chanting as people thought they were free to go on their way as we walk down Millbank towards Lambeth Bridge. If I remember rightly, the chant was "Whose streets? Our Streets!"

On the roundabout at Lambeth Bridge this cordon of police was waiting to direct us over the bridge. So we did. At this stage I stopped taking photos.

On the south side of the bridge more police were waiting but they weren't set up yet. Deciding I'd had enough and just wanted to get on a train home, I tried moving through them but they wouldn't let me go down Albert Embankment. So I scooted to the other side of the roundabout and made it down Kennington Lane to try and find a tube station or bus to get me home. This took a good hour and eventually I made it to Elephant and Castle and the Northern Line home. Meanwhile those remaining at Lambeth Bridge were cordoned off. I don't know what happened next.