Street Parties!
London, 6 June 1998

Usually, Ceefax and Teletext copy the Press Association wire without much change. Compare these two stories, reproduced for the purposes of private study, review and criticism:


Ceefax London local pages 00:30


ROADS Riot police break up protest

"STREET PARTY" CAUSES HAVOC FOR TRAFFIC

Protesters who are opposed to people using cars
brought traffic to a standstill today with 
"street parties"

Riot police have broken up a protest by Reclaim
the Streets campaigners who set light to two old
cars at the junction of the A10 in Tottenham.

Protests took place at the Seven Sisters Road, 
Caledonian Road in Holloway, at Broad Lane in 
Tottenham and along Brixton Hill. Estimates of 
the number of people involved varied from 2000 
to 10,000.

Teletext London local pages 00:30


Huge street party brings road chaos

STREET PARTY HITS BRIXTON

Parts of London experiences traffic chaos after 
thousands of supporters of campaign group 
Reclaim the Streets blocked roads in a 
pollution demo.

A "street party" in Brixton was held in protest 
against the increasing number of cards on the 
roads.

Traffic was diverted from Coldharbour Lane and 
Acre Lane junction. Caledonian Road in Holloway 
was also targeted.

Anyone who knows about the street party in Caledonian Road, please get in touch :-)

And someone did:

Many people walked from Euston to Kings Cross and then on up the Caledonian Road and Seven Sisters Road to the party - stopping traffic all the way. Not so much a protest march as a protest wander, it was a great way to get there and to spread the word and the chaos! I wish I'd had a radio with me to hear the traffic reports...

During the day one of the radio "traffic watch" spots warned drivers not to enter North-East London unless absolutely neccessary, because "the Reclaim the Streets movement has taken over the whole of North-East London".


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