Anti Bsl March

[TaraMoochi]

Can we organise one? Can I?

 

I know it may or may not have any impact, but I was thinking if we could do a dog owners march/walk (hobble for some of our furry friends!) to Number 10, either of bull breeds, but ideally all breeds and mixes just to show solidarity?

 

I thought it might make an impact to have lots of diff breeds, and some hand made tshirts perhaps for them so its not expensive, with potential killer on the back of all the dogs that have been a known breed to have bitten - which will pretty much be all breeds, as we know, its not about the breed!

 

What do you think - it might be a way to open peoples eyes when they see a cute cocker or Yorkie with potential killer t shirt, and bring home what is happening??

 

I want to do something that makes a statement, even if it falls on deaf ears - something that will give a positive message to the media about our love and care for all dogs, and how my staffies, like many others demonised friends, are lovely dogs!

 

What do you think? I guess if no one wants to take it on formally I can still do it - so if you're interested, I'd be keen to know xxxx

 

If you think this will make matters worse - of course, please let me know, I have far less experience than you on here

[Rumpole]

its a great idea and one thats been looked at before but it would take some planning and any dogs attending would have to be both well behaved and insured as one incident would achieve the complete opposite of what was meant to be achieved.

 

well worth looking at again though

[ReikiAnge]

Tis a good idea but I thought the same as Mel about being careful about which dogs would attend as a scrap between dogs wouldn't be good. Also not sure how many dogs would be about travelling into London?

 

Not sure about that wording on tshirts - I thought of something along the lines of "dogs united against breed discrimination"?

 

Candlelit vigils were discussed previously too I think - like the anti-greyhound racing ones.

[Happylittlegreensquirrel]

I arranged a march in Central London a few years ago ( Greyhound Welfare )

 

 

to do it properly you need to arrange it with the Met Police ( who were very helpful ) , I had to be interviewed twice in New Scotland Yard and fill in a lot of paperwork .

 

 

as the organizer I was liable for everyone on the march and their conduct , Public Liability insurance was nearly 1000 pounds so I choose not to buy it ( I had no budget ) and I spent the whole day worrying in cash people turned up who would cause trouble

 

 

Dogs were not allowed ( although the police let us have a few but it was there choice on the day and they could said no ) we had to provide stewards and they all had to wear high vi vests etc

 

 

I had to give a safety briefing and write a risk assessment , as the head steward I took a lot of flack of people on the march who did not like the fact I was enforcing the rules re noise ( no whistles , horns , PA or megaphones ) , banners ( wording and photos ) , no leaflets etc

 

 

there is an exclusion zone around Westminster which means you cannot march or protest near Parliament Square

 

 

to give in a petition to 10 Downing Street you need to apply via the police and you can only have a few people ( I think its no more than 6 ) and there names have to be submitted weeks in advance so they can be security checked etc

 

 

It is possible but its not as easy as people think and personally I would never do it again

 

Sam

 

P.s and the health and safety issues around candlelight vigils will make you weep

[TaraMoochi]

Oh my goodness, the rules around doing a march is crazy!!!

 

I'll have a bit more of a think on it, but I do think its something that would hit the news in DNB defence, marches always seem to.....just seems like government make it so hard that there is no longer freedom of speech -more like £1000 to be a bit quiet still please!

 

ps. that t shirt wording is much better! xx

[Happylittlegreensquirrel]

don't get me wrong you do have the right to March/protest ( except around Parliament Square and I think thats a post July 7th thing )

 

you don't have to have insurance ( I just spent the day crapping my pants ) you don't legally have to give notice either its just sensible to do so ( to ensure if nothing else the police stop traffic )

 

 

the police are fantastic and are so helpful with marches I could not fault them in any way , as the organizer you also have to plan the route you are talking and again the police really helped me with that and got us some very high profile roads

 

Its just if you want to do it properly it takes a heck of a lot of time and effort

 

because our march ended in Hyde Park I also had to do all of the above with the Parks Commission and be interviewed for an hour by them as well

 

 

The other thing is Londoners are very used to Saturday Marches and unless its a HUGE event like Pride or the anti war ones ( with thousands of people ) you won't make a dent in London and no one notices and the press don't cover it

 

 

you might be better doing a petition to hand into 10 Downing Street and silent vigil ( with a few people and dogs )

 

 

I will see if I can find the link to the Met Police page that covers all of this, I cannot fault them for the help they gave me

[TaraMoochi]

Thank you, I'm still very keen to do something - I just feel all this kenetic energy to do/say something but with little idea of what!

 

I think my little Jack Russell could hinder a silent vigil.... ohh what about dog collars on the ground in Trafalgar Square or somewhere busy and central, to highlight all the dogs PTS since the dangerous dogs act... although this sounds familar, so maybe someone else said they had done that before??

xx

Edited June 29, 2009 by TaraMoochi

[Happylittlegreensquirrel]

if you want to use Trafalgar Square you will also need to talk to the Greater London Authority

 

 

when Ken was Mayor they were fairly happy to hold animal related events not sure if its the same now as Boris is Mayor

 

 

Police said they liked Trafalgar Square as a venue as its easy to manage / steward and attendees are safe from traffic

[fee4]

i was a steward on the greyhound march that Sam (brilliantly) organised.

I know she & mark worked like trojans to get it underway-and to their credit it was a great day.

I dont think in reality that we made much difference to the plight of greys...but a few peeps did come up and take leaflets etc off us-and ask about what we were doing.

 

i think the only other word of caution is-many many people said they would attend-but for various reasons were unable to on the day-so be preparedto manage either more or less on the actual day

fee

[Happylittlegreensquirrel]

you need to talk with The Metropolitan Police Public Order Branch

 

 

home page for events ( so you can see whats already booked ) http://www.met.police.uk/events/

 

 

the how to page http://www.met.police.uk/events/protest_march.htm

 

 

 

 

 

i think the only other word of caution is-many many people said they would attend-but for various reasons were unable to on the day-so be preparedto manage either more or less on the actual day

fee

 

 

yes thats another excellent point , you have to have 1 steward for every 50 people and its hard when you don't know how many are coming , we had a lot of people ( and I mean 100's ) cancel at short notice , equally we had to build in enough reserve stewards in case 500 extra turned up

 

 

I was very lucky that people like Fee volunteered for stewarding as you really need calm level headed people , the police told me good stewards make or break the whole event

[Happylittlegreensquirrel]

just looking back over some notes I had pre march

 

 

Route : Whitehall Place, Whitehall, Cockspur St, Pallmall East , St James Park , Piccadilly , Hyde Park Corner, Park Lane , Hyde Park

 

Special instructions for March , no PA's or Loudspeakers can be used on the march until we are 1 mile away from Westmister, ( this will be covered in the pre march briefing ,see below ) Police have advised they HAVE to enforce this and will have to arrest anyone who uses such equipment within the mile

 

Marchers carrying banners is fine, however no one banner should be wider than 6 foot ( so it does over spill onto the oncoming traffic )

 

we need 1 steward per 50 marchers , stewards need to be at the meeting point by 11.00hrs to meet me and police liaison for a briefing , Stewards accompany the marchers and are the link between the march and the police, they cannot take part in the march ( i.e carry banners or chant ) , stewards need to be level headed and calm and can make or break a march. Stewards also need to be clearly identifiable to the the police ( Hi vis and armbands )

 

 

this was in 2006 and I think some rules may have changed re static protests near Westminster , The Public Order Branch really are the best point of call to start with

 

 

Good Luck

[TaraMoochi]

Wow, thank you - thats lots of useful info - lots to think about!!

 

[gremlin22]

not wishing to put you off at all, i agree something needs to be done thats a bit more visible to the non dog community. just be warned there are groups of people who go out of their way to join various marches, look like they support the cause but they just go out to cause trouble, be it damage to property or out and out violence, or just making the cause look bad.

[Happylittlegreensquirrel]

not wishing to put you off at all, i agree something needs to be done thats a bit more visible to the non dog community. just be warned there are groups of people who go out of their way to join various marches, look like they support the cause but they just go out to cause trouble, be it damage to property or out and out violence, or just making the cause look bad.

 

 

The police did warn me about this , again its one of the reasons you need good stewards etc

 

if a march / protest is highjacked by professional trouble makers and you identify the person/persons to the police as not being with your group they will remove them ( the Police are there to help you at your event ) equally the police do know a lot of these people and will advise you ( as the organiser ) if they see them joining in on the day or they become aware of potential issues ahead of the day

[Melp]

ohh what about dog collars on the ground in Trafalgar Square or somewhere busy and central, to highlight all the dogs PTS since the dangerous dogs act... although this sounds familar, so maybe someone else said they had done that before??

xx

 

 

When we had our fisrt meet in Liverpool we had empty collars to represent the 70 dogs that had been pts [the figure rose to much higher than that in the following weeks]

We had public liability insurance which cost us £150 but that only covered us for standing in one spot, we would not have been covered for marching.

Personall I would not take dogs to any event like this. The "rent a mob" people are hard enough to deal with without the addition of dogs. You have the potential for fighting, people not cleaning up after their dogs, overheating, noise etc etc. I wouldn't risk it. Perhaps ONE registered dog as a figurehead?