Mild Peril to those who Insult Opera

Last night I exercised my democratic right to protest at the Manchester premiere of Jerry Springer: The Opera. We were actually a counter protest against the fundamentalist Christians that wanted to use our outmoded blasphemy laws to ban the show. I'm not well known for demonstrating against stuff but free speech is one of my pet subjects (and something thats not actually protected by law in this country).

After much deliberation on slogans and waiting for the "other side" to turn up we decided to head out anyway and placed our selves opposite the Opera House. We got a few strange looks until people realised what our placards actually said. When the anti-Springer protesters turned up there was some good natured singing of "Your late and you know you are" and "We hope you enjoy the show". A quick count showed we had 16 placards vs 3 which led to some football style "16-3" chants. I think there were a few more anti-Springer protesters but they didn't have placards so don't count ;-)

The crowd seemed generally supportive of our efforts and several of them came over to take pictures and chat as we handed out stickers. We even had a couple of the cast members come over and thank us for our support. I told them they had better be good when I go and see the show on Saturday :-)