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Counting crowds
 national |
anti-war / imperialism |
opinion/analysis
 Sunday March 21, 2004 19:45 by John Cunningham - Galway Alliance Against War
is not an exact science
I note that there is discussion on another thread about the size of yesterday’s anti-war march. I recall a similar discussion this time last year about the dimensions of the 15 February mobilisation —was there 80,000 or perhaps 200,000? I discovered yesterday that it is hard to be half-way accurate about such matters, much less definitive Having travelled from Galway in the morning, I was very disappointed by the numbers around Parnell Square. At 3.15, there was certainly less than a thousand. On the march, stewards were mentioning numbers of between two and four thousand —I suspected exaggeration so I decided to try a count myself in Kildare-street. I counted 250, noted the space they took up, and tried to estimate subsequent blocks of 250. Not an ideal method, but I suppose we’ll never have turnstiles for protests.
My count yielded 5,250, with a few left over, which surprised me. There was nothing near that at the start of the march —nor was there, it seemed, at the finish.
Many protestors, perhaps as many as half of the Kildare-street crowd, joined in en route. Some, I’m sure, were delayed on their way, some made an impromptu decision to join in, some deliberately timed their arrival to avoid the tedious speechifying. Towards the end, too, one could see people drifting away to the pub or wherever.
The little computation indicated that all of the various estimates were correct. It just depended on when the count was taken. My 5,250 did not include those who abandoned the struggle before Kildare-street, nor the few who joined after it. And it did not include the dozens of protesting amateur photographers along the footpath. (Maybe the half-hearted anti-warriors who joined outside Trinity and went to watch the rugby on telly after a half-mile stroll didn’t deserve to be counted either).
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Comments (6 of 6)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6"Maybe the half-hearted anti-warriors who joined outside Trinity and went to watch the rugby on telly after a half-mile stroll didn’t deserve to be counted either."
Because only 'true' anti-warriors (?) stick around to listen to endless speeches from the swp and friends.
I had no intention in walking from point A to point B in the pissing rain just so I could 'feel good' about being against the war.
As for the match, it was a decent game, but I think we could of played a little better.
No way was i going to spend hours standing around in that weather when the only possible effect my presence would have would be to make up the numbers at RBB and Aoife ni fearghails recruitment drive..
i try to say to myself no matter what the RBB sayd hes not speaking for me or of me..
going to top oil at a certain point of the day has encouraged me to go and join the main march for a while and go elsewhere, to feel like ive done something that gets closer to the heart of the matter
perhaps even pana going to the american embassy was there attempt and doing something for there group seperate to the iawm
i rarely let the rain stop me from going to these things, if it important enough you go even for just an hour,,,
its like people not oging to the pub cos the weathers bad...
sleeping late is my demon
when the next shannon demo people
Would it be beyond the bounds of possibilityf for demo organizers to pay an independent monotring organization to assess march numbers?
Hate to be a party pooper, but there was NEVER as many as 5,000 on that march!! No way Jose. Might have reached 4,000 at one point, but I doubt even that.
I reckoned about 3,500 - 4,000. I was at a protest for proper cancer care in the South East in Waterford on Friday (about 4,000 people) and it was pretty much the same size as the anti-war one. There was a very small but interesting action outside TOP oil in Amiens St, though.