A ROUGH GUIDE 25global capitalism: a McDonald’s. With typical insensitivity and with a desire to overwhelm
with force, there was a massive mobilization of police fully decked out in riot gear. Though
the protest was widespread up and down a main thoroughfare connecting Parliament Square
to Trafalgar Square, the police began to shunt all the protesters, peaceful or not, into Trafalgar
Square. There, blocked in, protesters began to fight back in running skirmishes with the
police. It was not until late in the day that the police eventually, in their words, ‘retook’
Trafalgar Square – as if it were some military objective, once lost to a powerful enemy. The
parallel is interesting. Once again, Trafalgar Square echoed – not to the sound of a famous
imperial victory, but to the cries of demonstrators and the violence of political oppression.
The demonstrations of 1 May 2000 left behind them the scars of various attacks on pro-
perty, not just the McDonald’s, but also various national monuments. Although venting anger
on property and monuments is age-old – think back to 1517 and before –politicians of all hues
were outraged, and the police were put on the back foot for allowing such ‘deplorable’ activi-
ties to take place. On 1 May 2001, the police were in no mood to give any possible protesters
the freedom to create a carnival of violence. However, the anti-capitalist demonstrators had
plans for protests – note: peaceful protests – that were to give the police severe headaches.Figure 2 Anti-capitalist protesters in Oxford Circus, 1 May 2001 (Photo: Steve Pile)Instead of focusing anti-capitalism on one site of protest, the diverse and heterogeneous
groups used the allegory of the popular board game Monopoly to organize their demonstra-
tions. Monopoly (invented by Charles Darrow in 1933) is based on various locations in
Atlantic City. Many cities now have their own version of the game. In the game, players
attempt to capitalize on those locations by charging larger and larger rents. It is model pro-
perty capitalism. It was now being used as model anti-capitalism. The earliest protests began
at Marylebone Station. A fairly small group of cyclists began a slow journey to King’s Cross3029-intro.qxd 03-10-02 5:17 PM Page 25