Suffering a heavy cold left me unable to support the protest for freedom of expression in person that took place in London yesterday. Photos and an account can be seen at Samizdata.
The protest did run into flak, due to rumours that elements of the British National Party hoped to be represented on the day. That was clearly not the case. The BBC News quoted police estimates of 250 protestors at the peak of the march, although there may have been a throughput of people. Samizdata quotes a thousand.
Thankfully, the cartoons of Muhammed were presented, ensuring that the whole point of the exercise was recognised. The Muslim Action Committee blog derides all who defend freedom of expression. All who attended did something right then:
MAC's success in pressuring the organisers of the March for Free Expression to tell people not to bring placards and t-shirts of the cartoons (see below) has resulted a poor turnout of no more than 300. For a nationwide demonstration which had been campaigning for over a month to raise supporters, this is truely pathetic. The reality is despite gaining support from a wide range of speakers and organisations, support for the demonstration had been growing amongst only one section of the community- those who hate Islam and say this demonstration as an opportunity to attack Islam and Muslims publically by parading the Danish Cartoons.