Marcha da Maconha - Global Marijuana March

[forest dog]

Morning all.

Just got back from the Marcha da Maconha in São Paulo, Brazil, and I thought I'd share a few photos that I hope show a bit of the spirit of the day.

First off I'd like to say the march went offf without any problems whatsoever and for the first time it was carried out without any police presence (not much at least). In 2011 the march was banned and police broke it up using tear gas and extreme violence, which lead to a high court rulling that the march was a legal and that banning it was a threat to civil rights.

The following years thousands of police lined the route and tried to arrest anyone they saw smoking, using the excuss that they were there for the protection of the marchers (what a joke!).

So this year the organisers got a court order allowing them to organise the security of the march rather than the police. This meant there were a few police that stayed on the opposite side of the road while we were getting things sorted in a big square and it was up to us to close the roads and make sure there was no trouble. It also meant that everyone smoked up all along the route, so the march started and finished under a massive cloud of weed smoke.

At 4.00pm we piled out into the road, a 4 lane dual carrageway, and at 4.20pm about 15,000 people lit up and off we went.

Because we were organising the road cloasures quite a few cars got caught up in the march, however, all the motorists joined in with the spirit of the event, with people blasting out music and hooting their horns in time to the singing and chanting. All along the route people came out of the shops to cheer and hung from their balconies smoking joints and playing more music.

Basically everyone was happy and friendly, with people I didn't know passing joints to me, there was no trouble, no vandalism and no arrests. It was a real success and a victory in the fight, not to mention a great day out.

So here are a few pics.

[iBMe]

Great pics mate.

[forest dog]

Thanks iBMe, the quality is a bit poor as I was just using the phone. I wish I'd taken my proper camera but I thought I might get a bit messed up so I didn't want to risk it.