What is the aim of the May Day protest

asks Su Smith:
A. Specifically, to bring London to a standstill on 1 May.

�

Q. How is it going to be done
A. Planned events include mass cycle rallies, protests at the World Bank offices in the Haymarket and demonstrations against privatisation and Third World debts. The game of Monopoly has been used on the Internet to list targets for demonstration, describing banks, buildings and companies - such as McDonald's, Pret A Manger, Barclays, Tesco, Starbucks, Gap and The Body Shop - that it claims are legitimate targets. The protest will culminate in the afternoon with a mass meeting of around 5,000 people at Oxford Circus.

�

Q. Won't that be busy with shoppers and tourists
A. That's the point - total disruption.

�

Q. Who are the protesters
A. They include anti-capitalists, animal rights' activists, and anti-car demonstrators. The police have identified some of the UK-based groups involved - Anarchists' Federation, the Solidarity Federation, Class War, Urban Alliance, The Wombles and the Birmingham Section 28 collective.

�

Q. Why are they doing this
A. It's mainly a protest against capitalism because, it's claimed, capitalism exists only to take resources, wealth and power away from the many and give it to the few, and that capitalism increases poverty, low wages, job insecurity, homelessness, global warming, genetic engineering, deforestation, the erosion of freedom and justice, corporate control, wars and prisons.

�

Q. Is this sort of protest likely to succeed
A. It's debatable. While most people (including the majority of the demonstrators) were outraged by the violence and vandalism of the demonstrations last year, businesses and governments worldwide have been forced to take note. However, this can take the form of banning such demonstrations when they turn out to be violent. Or, at the very least, initiate a strong police presence and a 'zero tolerance'�of criminal behaviour, as will be happening in London on 1 May.

�

Q. Is this a new thing
A. No. direct action has had some success abroad. For example, protests against a train carrying nuclear waste in Germany, and anti-capitalist riots in Seattle. And experts believe it dates back to the Zapatista rebellion in southern Mexico in 1994. Rebels, who accused the government of genocidal policies, took over six towns and declared war on the government. They were eventually defeated by the army.

�

Do you have something to say about the May Day protests Post it here

�

By Sheena Miller

�