Now that SOCPA (the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act) has come into force, people are no longer allowed to protest within a km of parliament without prior police consent.

The police can decide how many people can join a protest, where people can protest, and how they can protest (how loud, how many placards, banners etc).

This means that, in theory, they have the power to render protests around Parliament completely ineffective… People protesting without consent risk arrest.

However, people may not be allowed to protest, but, so far there are no laws against, for example, teddy bears protesting… So, on Sunday November 6th, while London activists picnicked in Parliament Square, teddy bears held a protest of their own. They were supported by other soft toys from the ‘Soft Toy Solidarity Movement' and ‘Cuddly Toys Against Climate Change'.

There were no arrests during the protest itself, but afterwards some very brave teddies ‘locked on' to the iron gates around Parliament. Some even threw themselves through the railings. At the time of writing, the fate of these heroic teddy bears is not known….

CODEPINK London has had a very busy summer in all kinds of different ways. Early summer saw us (along with Pretzels Street Theatre) performing ‘A Very Private Party' to protest the G8 summit.

Then in late July we had a CODEPINK stand at the Ambient Picnic in Guildford, where, despite torrential rain, we sold badges, T-shirts and books in aid of ‘MAIC' (Medical Aid For Iraqi Children ~ www.maic.org.uk). We also sold – and continue to sell - a lot of ‘Zaytoun' fair-trade Palestinian olive oil (www.zaytoun.org). The olive oil is so popular that, together with other local peace and church groups, we have now formed a network to help distribute it. Sales of the oil enable the network to sponsor some very poor children living in Gaza. The sponsorship (via the charity ‘The Dove And The Dolphin' ~ www.rhactiv.co.uk/dandd/ ) enables the children to go to school and so makes a big difference to their lives.

In London, peace activists are facing fresh challenges now because of new laws that make protests within a kilometer of Parliament unlawful (without express police consent).

Those who do protest without police consent now risk arrest and possible fines or imprisonment. Activists of all kinds are getting together to challenge the new laws. Meanwhile, people are finding other creative ways to fill their time. Although not allowed to protest, some activists are holding ‘picnics' for peace (Suffragette costumes optional…) and ‘public meditations for peace' instead.

In September, DSEi, the world's biggest weapons fair, came to town and was held at the Excel Centre in London's Docklands. There were actions of all kinds ~ vigils, marches, and ‘direct actions'.

Peace activists teamed up with local residents to protest the event. On the way to a multi-faith vigil we met a wonderful lady, Eileen, who said she'd lived in the East End nearly all her life. She'd lived through – and vividly remembers, the bombings of WW2. “How dare they hold this weapons fair here…” she said, “…after all that we went through. It's an insult to the memory of the people who were killed here.”

As we passed by some children playing on the grass Eileen remarked on how wonderful it was to hear children laughing, how wonderful to know that they felt safe and secure. She said she lived through a time when children's laughter was a very rare sound indeed.

As she glanced over to the Excel centre where the weapons fair was being held she sighed. “It's very sad” she said “to think that the bombs being traded there will be used to rob other children elsewhere in the world of their laughter…”

And so we must continue, each and every one of us, to work for peace, to speak for peace, to live peace ~ in whatever ways we can; for the sake of ALL the world's children.

An Englishman for Peace, March 19th, 2005 Anti-War Demo in London.

CODEPINK Protests Cluster Bombs Left in Iraq.

CODEPINK UK at the European Social Forum in London, October 2004

Fair Trade Sugar Mouse Taking a Hammering From the Hammer of Free Trade.

Dressed Up as Free-Trade Fat Cats at the Trade Justice Demo in Brighton.

Free-Trade Sugar Mouse.

Hiroshima Day: CODEPINK Wreath on the Gates of the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston.

Vigil for Iraq Handover of Power, June 30, 2004.

Vigil for Iraq Handover of Power, June 30, 2004.

CODEPINK UK at the European Social Forum in London, October 2004.

Children for Peace at CODEPINK's March 19th Anti-War Demo in London.

Mother's Day Vigil.

Mother's Day Vigil.

Peace Wreath at the Cenotaph in Whitehall.

Funeral March for Fallujah.

Lollipop Lady (Man) Protesting Deaths of Iraqi Children.

CODEPINK London's 'Signature' Photo.

Mother Earth Funeral at the Kyoto Treaty Environment, March 2004.