FEATHERS are flying on London’s Trafalgar Square after a noisy rabble of animal welfare campaigners demonstrated against a drive to stem the spiralling pigeon population.

The flocks of pigeons on the landmark square in central London remain one of the capital’s main tourist attractions. But now, local authorities say the birds are a nuisance. Mayor Ken Livingstone has brought in falconers with birds of prey to scare them off. City workers prowl the square, stalking pigeons with loudspeakers and blaring seagull screeches at them. The protesters descended on the square armed with banners, sackfulls of birdseed and loudspeakers of their own.

“We should reduce the numbers, but we should do it by kinder methods,” said Barbara Keene, a retired London city employee, as she intermittently screamed abuse at municipal workers sweeping up feed as fast as the protesters could throw it down.

“I’m afraid I’m getting more and more violent in my old age,” she added.

The mayor’s office says the vast flocks of pigeons in the square, estimated at around 5,000 at any lunchtime, cause thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Tourists eager to pose for photographs under a blanket of birds used to be able to buy birdseed from licensed sellers. But authorities banned the sales earlier this year.

Waving banners saying “no cruelty, no culling” the campaigners shouted at on-duty falconers whose hawks, they said, were killing the pigeons.

As the flock of birds swooping down to the feeding frenzy steadily grew, workers used huge vacuum street cleaners to clear the pavement. One protester presented reporters with the bloody carcass of a pigeon she said had been sucked up by the machines.

Tourists seemed delighted by the spectacle.

“It’s great, we didn’t know there was a demonstration on. The main reason we came here was to feed the birds,” said Eng Rejun, a 22 year-old student from Malaysia.


Phone line

A young businessman had just started his own firm. He had just rented a beautiful office and had it furnished with antiques. He saw a man come into the outer office. Wishing to appear the hot shot, the businessman picked up the phone and started to pretend he had a big deal working. He threw huge figures around and made giant commitments.

Finally he hung up and asked the visitor, “Can I help you?” “Yeah, I’ve come to activate your phone lines.”