Sunday 19 February 2006

National Gallery faces another demo

Coxsoft Art is pleased to report that BBC TV News coverage of yesterday's anti-cartoons demo in Trafalgar Square, London, was more objective than its coverage of the previous Saturday's demo. This time it reported that 10,000 protestors turned up, but that this fell short of the 50,000 expected. It also asked the pertinent question: Who do these protestors represent? (The Muslim Action Committee this time, certainly not the silent majority.)
Full marks to the BBC cameraman, who framed an excellent shot of the National Gallery over a crowd of hairy Muslims, its impressive facade a beacon of art and civilization towering above primitive tribalism.
The protestors marched to Hyde Park. For those of you in foreign parts, Hyde Park Corner is the heart of free speech in the UK. (Forget Parliament; most politicians are too busy toeing the party line to get involved in anything as dodgy as free speech.) At Hyde Park Corner, any lunatic with an axe to grind can climb on a soapbox and expound his views to an amused and indulgent audience of sceptics. Whether the Muslim protestors went to Hyde Park to enjoy free speech or to stifle it is anyone's guess; the BBC reporter didn't follow them there. The Police reported no arrests.

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