Wow there's definitely some reaction here
I thought the whole point of CM was that it was individuals, to the point that the only regular atendees I know well (surprisingly enough there isn't a CM Cumbria so I haven't attended one myself) go to the start, ride for a few minutes then leave the ride and retire to the pub. I don't know if it stands for anything or whether it's actually an entity at all, but hundreds of people on bikes will be as varied as hundreds of people in cars/on foot I would expect.
Whether it was an anti Olympic protest this time, or an anti Zil-lane or whatever, considering (from the newspaper reports I've seen) they didn't arrive in North London until after the start of the ceremony, surely it would have been better to just leave them cycling round in circles until people got bored and discipated, in the same way as CMs usually seem to end. Then again I don't know whether the kettling started first or the ride started trying to puncture police lines before anything started.
Unfortunately if one group starts courting confrontation, the other side gets more comfrontational (whichever way round you want to apply that) and between the two the situation gets to the point where a load of arrests were made and probably at least a few assaults were commited on police officers and cyclists.
Do I think it was stupid for the CM to head for the highest security area of the capital? - yes.
Do I think this was overblown by heavy-handedness? - quite possibly.
Noone has supported the use of violence (with the possible exception of someone who signed up to post/troll and was given short shrift by both sides), despite some of the accusations made by some posters. What each side of this argument has done is excuse agression from one side or the other (police/cyclist) dependant on who they believe is 'to blame'.
This discussion hasn't exactly been friendly though (calling others liars, names and referring to blow up dolls spring to mind). Calm down!
As for whether it's useful or not to me, I have no idea. Infuriating motorists in the area around where law makers are driving isn't going to do much for cycling nationally, then again if you consider how much money London has spent on cycling (and transport in general) per capita recently to all the rest of the UK combined, it may be having a local effect.
(Now ducks)
Apology offered !!!
