We were blessed with it being a beautiful late summer day. As you arrived at the demo you were given a blue UN cap, which meant I didn't have to wear the "blue hat" I'd prepared- actually a navy blue beanie hat. Amongst the crowd were a few people I knew- Brian Brivati, PooterGeek and David T of the Euston Group, plus strictlytrue of this parish. strictlytrue noted the absolute absence of "Socialist Worker" banners, usually ubiquitous at any demo, this, we agreed, was refreshing.

So what did we get? A lot of chanting ("No More War, In Darfur" etc) - bellowed with gusto by the African contingent, more muttered into the chests of the Europeans. Then Stephen Twigg introduced a series of largely inaudible speeches. It has to be said that this was a disappointment- maybe the organisers didn't expect so many people to come, but the PA- a single loudhailer by looks of things- was woefully inadequate. This meant that those who spoke loud enough to be heard got the loudest applause - noticeably the Tory who read a message from David Cameron. There were also a couple of videos shown on a big (if it was in a house) plasma screen, where were audible, but the sun sunshine meant there was nothing to see. One was a short harrowing Amnesty International documentary, the other was a speech by Hilary Benn. It's clear that the Darfur crisis is close to Benn's heart - and Clive Soley was praising his efforts at the EM meeting the other week.

After the speeches we marched to Downing St. strictlytrue guestimated the crowd at about 2,000, I more pessimistically reckon less than a thousand. Either way it was a considerable increase on the amount that attended the last one by all accounts (probably less than 250). The blue hats were a nice idea, and made the march look very spectacular. The march incidentally was backed up by the obligatory drums and whistles, which is just as well as it wouldn't feel like a proper march without them.

Oh, and there was a counter demonstration, of sorts; One person with a large banner filled with small writing (the usual sign of a loon)- "US and UK are the real terrorists", something about Israel, you can guess the gist etc...
It seemed to eminate from the Sudanese Embassy.

Will it have done any good? Who knows- if it just means that a few people were wondering why hundreds of people in UN hats were walking noisily through London, it might help.

We peeled off before Downing St, we've still got to get our shopping done y'know...and to honest an "inter-faith" service didn't really appeal to me.

EDIT:
Further reports on the demo by-
Strictly True
Brian Brivati
and loads of flickr pix from around the world.