As far as the best vantage points for Britain's royal wedding go, Barbara Tucker is in prime position. Facing Big Ben, on the grassy fringes of Parliament Square, the anti-war campaigner is firmly ensconced at the starting point of the carriage procession that will take Prince William and Kate Middleton from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace on April 29.
Tucker, an Australian, has been in the spot for five years, protesting for justice, democracy and freedom with veteran peace activist Brian Haw - who has been there for twice as long. Haw, who is currently undergoing lung cancer treatment in Germany, has become a familiar figure around the world.
Megaphone in hand, his face weathered and his tweed hat covered in anti-war badges, he was there when the British parliament sanctioned troops deployments in Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan - becoming a thorn in the flesh of politicians and a shining example for the anti-war movement.
But now, the campaigners are considered something of an eyesore and their time seems to be up. If local politicians get their way, Tucker and a handful of supporters will be cleared from the site, following a High Court ruling that "Parliament Square Gardens is not a suitable location for prolonged camping." Haw and Tucker were trespassers, "notwithstanding the fact that significant numbers of people may support the aims and objects of their protest," said the ruling.
Prime Minister David Cameron is said to back moves to "sort out" the problem of the peace campaigners in time for the wedding - with their scattered tents, anti-genocide posters and pictures of child war victims considered an unsuitable sight. "They've got a month to get us out," said Tucker, smiling, as legal appeals and more applications for injunctions fly back and forth. Sitting on the pavement of the busy square in her folding chair, the tent for the night pitched behind, Tucker says the event of the royal wedding is being "used" to end peaceful protest in a public space.
"The main issue is we've been here too long," Tucker told dpa. "But if we're not here, democracy dies." After all, said Tucker, she was only doing what the late Princess Diana did, fighting against war and injustice to protect lives, for instance with her anti-landmine campaign.
"Diana would not want us to be moved, and she is William's mother!" exclaimed Tucker. "She would want us to be here to provide a balance." Tucker and her fellow-campaigners also draw comfort from the revolutionary tide that is currently sweeping the Arab world. "We live in historic times. The young people of Egypt have achieved in a few days what we have been fighting for years," she said. "They have challenged governments, but they have done it peacefully."
In the present atmosphere, "criminalizing" peace protesters in Britain would "send the wrong message," said Tucker. She suggested that the powers that be could simply "digitally remove" the protesters from view on the wedding day. "We are part of history, and, with due respect, the royal wedding will be a footnote in history," observed Tucker. And, if she was still in place, would she give a wave? "I haven't thought that far ahead," she smiled.
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