Car Free Day

European Car Free Day was officially celebrated in some British cities, but in those where it wasn’t activists celebrated it anyway.

In Newcastle for example, early-rising cyclists visited the home of Cabinet Minister Kevin Jones with a trishaw, in the vain hope of persuading him to go to work on it. Very official-looking flyers appeared on the windscreens of hundreds of parked cars in the city centre, informing motorists of road closures on Car Free Day, as well as all-day free travel on Newcastle’s Metro system. Notices also appeared at the underground Metro stations. Metro broadcasted all day for two days contradicting the notices, laid on extra ticket inspectors and didn’t fine any fare-dodgers for the day.

Meanwhile a banner appeared over the city’s central motorway telling motorists ‘Kill Car Culture Before It Kills You’. ‘Immobilization’ leaflets were posted on hundreds of parked vehicles, giving official notification of the dangers of too much reliance on motor transport.

Late in the afternoon 200 or so people gathered for Newcastle’s second Reclaim the Streets. A tripod blocked the entrance to the Civic Centre car park, although a sound system was seized early, and damaged, by police. Two people were arrested, but both released quickly.

Manchester’s Reclaim the Streets Six have all walked free. The 6 were charged with trumped-up public order offences following last year’s RTS action in Manchester. Their case was heard in June. The CCTV evidence showed a large number of violent and disorderly police officers baton-charging their way into a peaceful crowd without warning. Witnesses flatly contradicted the police lies.