*Ø* Blogmanac | London cancels police leave to handle Bush protesters

"LONDON — Police are bracing for what could be the largest demonstration ever organized against a foreign head of state when President Bush arrives for a state visit on Tuesday.

"Central London streets will be closed for Mr. Bush's motorcades and leave has been canceled for London police, who are expected to spend millions of dollars on security for the visit.

"The highlight will come Thursday when as many as 60,000 people gather in Trafalgar Square to pull down a homemade statute of President Bush in a parody of the April 9 destruction of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad ..."
Source: Washington Times

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"You have probably seen the photos of the statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled, and TV footage of jubilant Iraqis rolling the bronze head around, bringing back memories of so many previous popular uprisings – 1989, 1956, 1953...

"If there is one thing this war has taught us all, it's that we can't believe what we're told. For Donald Rumsfeld these were 'breathtaking'. For the British Army they were 'historic'. For BBC Radio they were 'amazing'.

A wide angle shot in which you can see the whole of Fardus Square (conveniently located just opposite the Palestine Hotel where the international media are based), and the presence of at most around 200 people – most of them US troops (note the tanks and armored vehicles) and assembled journalists."
The pulling down of Saddam's statue was a staged media event [the Baghdad square was not full of cheering Iraqis, and it was surrounded by US tanks keeping Baghdad citizens away]
See the Video of the Pulling down of the Statue