Lest We Forget It's a Foreign Country

When I entered the National Gallery around noon, Trafalgar Square was a quiet place mainly filled with tourists and pigeons. What a difference four hours makes. I exited to a very large rally going on in the square the subject of which was a protest of the ongoing violence in Gaza. Although the British government has generally joined the U.S. government in a balanced approach--supporting Israel's right to defend itself while also calling for a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution--the government doesn't speak for much of the population. A sizable number of britons sympathize with the Palestinians, which is really not surprising considering the size of the minority population here. What was surprising was the level of vitriol directed at the United States and Americans in general. I was also surprised to hear the lead speaker strongly praising the "leadership" of the government of Venezuela for its support of Palestinian rights, and I was surprised by the presence of the British Communist Party as sponsor of the event. All of this was apparently of concern to the British goverment. There were hundreds of police in the square. On one side street alone I counted 13 idling vans, each containing eight policemen and riot gear. I decided to take the State Department warning to Americans to stay away from such events seriously and exit for other parts of the city.