Cultural Geography

A ROUGH GUIDE 27

Street had been boarded up. By about 2 p.m., thousands of people were converging on Oxford

Circus – a vast panoply of anti-this and anti-that, but always anti-capitalism.

Police strategy was to run rings around the protesters. A small group of protesters was

blocked into the Circus itself. Another ring of police stopped further protesters from joining

the inner circle. From there, the police attempted to gain control of the situation by forcing

people back along the main roads leading into the Circus, and by blocking off side streets to

prevent escape and evasion. With twice as many police as protesters, and many donning riot

gear prior to any kind of trouble, the overwhelming sense of intimidation mounted. There

was, as a result, trouble. Shops were attacked; fires were lit. Within the Circus itself, some

people attempted to burn down NikeTown. Police response was swift, and violent. Snatch

squads ran into the crowds, hitting people indiscriminately on the way in, dragging indivi-

duals away on the way out. A tense stand-off began to develop.

Figure 4 NikeTown under siege, Oxford Circus, 1 May 2001 (Photo: Steve Pile)

After eight hours, thousands of protesters were still being ‘detained’ (illegally, it was said)

at the Circus. For many of the demonstrators, though, there was a sense of salt being rubbed

into the wound. The Guardiannewspaper quoted Ross Bateman, aged 20, the following day:

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