Stop traffic to stop VSU
by pc Thursday May 12, 2005 at 10:13 PM

The promised "Sing to save our Student Unions" didn't happen, but there was a lot of noise, and they did stop the traffic....

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Around 200, perhaps a few more, had assembled at Casselden Place by the time the speeches

started. For a while it looked as if there were going to be a few hundred construction

workers to help balance the numbers against the rather large police turnout, but it turned

out they were waiting for the all clear to go back to their sites after a bomb scare. It was

pretty clear they were onside, though, which augurs sell for 30 June ...
There were a lot of speakers, but the megaphones were turned up so high, and the

reverberation in the forecourt of Casselden Place is so overpowering, that my ears wer able

to pick out only the odd word here and there. Others with younger equipment appeared to be

coping better, so it's up to them to fill in the blanks...
After the speakers there was a general move to the the intersection, with about ahundred or

so remaining for a sit-down, resulting in traffic backing up down Spring Street and

Lonsdale, until police eventually managed to clear it from the back. More speakers, then a

march down Lonsdale past construction sites where workers stopped to wave support, ending up

in the Mall, by which time numbers had dropped to about 50, but still enough to attract a

good deal of attention from shoppers and tourists.
These photos are from a camcorder, so not the best; there were plenty of other cameras

around, though, so perhaps more will find their way here?

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roadblock
by pc Thursday May 12, 2005 at 10:13 PM

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strike
by pc Thursday May 12, 2005 at 10:13 PM

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from the Monash contingent ....

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