Housing Bill protest, London

Recorded by Paul Tourle.

"Made in situ, the recording captures the sounds of my partner and I on a walkabout before the main protest march set off for Parliament Square. The recording features prominently the sounds of a protest choir (Raised Voices, I think). If memory serves, it was a stiflingly warm day. I had a sense at the time that everything was a little too cosy for a protest, and the recording brings that thought back to the surface. It puts me in mind of the protests carried out by Remainers in the wake of the Brexit referendum: I was there, too. What I find interesting is that both of these protests seemed to bring perhaps ‘softer' or less politically committed or dynamic types (myself included) out to join in. These are people who have finally had enough, but who are not at all accustomed to expressing themselves vocally. To my ear, that carries through to the recording."

Part of the Protest and Politics project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/protest