March

Went to protest march today with quite a few workmates - most of senior management showed up, v. good. Lowest estimate of crowd size I've heard was "more than two hundred thousand"; organisers estimate nearly half a million. Police ended up turning away fifty thousand more for safety reasons.

Interesting mix. The usual loonie fringe (we started out near the Spartacists, who were apparently marching to defend China North Korea's right to nuclear weaponry) and some rather unexpected groups (One Nation, even) but most seemed to be 'regular people' who weren't in the habit of demonstrating. Very peaceful, very friendly.

John Howard's response? "You can't judge public opinion by the number of people who turn out for a rally."

But then, he's already made it clear that 'public opinion' is the last thing that's going to influence him on this one.