Anti-war protesters gather at Parliament Square on the afternoon of 20 March 2003, as seen from the roof of the Palace of Westminster

Parliament Square is a square outside the North-Western end of the Palace of Westminster in London. Events 1600 - The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden. Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. Public square and city square redirect here For Public Square Cleveland see Public Square and for City Square in Leeds see Leeds City Square. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. It features a large open green area in the middle, with a group of trees to its West.

Location

Parliament Square, 1980

Other buildings looking upon the square include Westminster Abbey and St. Margaret's, Westminster, the Middlesex Guildhall (to become the seat of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom), 100 Parliament Street serving HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs, and Portcullis House (and so Westminster tube station). The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to by its original name of Westminster Abbey, is a large mainly Gothic church The Anglican church of St Margaret Westminster is situated in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, and is the Parish church The Middlesex Guildhall is a building on the south-west corner of Parliament Square in London. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom was established in law by Part III of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing Portcullis House in Westminster, London, was commissioned in 1992 to provide offices for Members of Parliament and their staff augmenting limited For other items relating to Westminster see Westminster (disambiguation Westminster is a London Underground station in the

Roads coming off the square are St. Margaret Street (becoming Abingdon Street and then Millbank), Broad Sanctuary (becoming Victoria Street), Great George Street (which becomes Birdcage Walk), Parliament Street (becoming Whitehall), and Bridge Street (becoming Westminster Bridge). Millbank is an area of central London in the City of Westminster. Victoria is an informal area of inner city London, lying wholly within the City of Westminster, and named after Victoria of the United Kingdom. Birdcage Walk is a street in London, United Kingdom, in the City of Westminster. Parliament Street is the name of several places including The world's narrowest street in Exeter, England. Whitehall is a road in Westminster in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards traditional Westminster Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames between Westminster, Middlesex bank and Lambeth, Surrey bank in what

Statues in and around the square are mostly of well-known statesmen, and include ones of Winston Churchill (on the North-Eastern edge of the green and turned East, overlooking Parliament), Abraham Lincoln (in front of Middlesex Guildhall), Robert Peel (South-Western edge of the green), Lord Palmerston (North-Western edge of the green), Jan Christian Smuts (Northern edge of the green), Derby, Disraeli and George Canning. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can ( 30 November 1874 Abraham Lincoln (February 12 1809 &ndash April 15 1865 the sixteenth President of the United States, successfully led his country through its greatest internal Sir Robert Peel 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 &ndash 2 July 1850 was the Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April "Lord Palmerston" and "Henry Temple" redirect here Field Marshal Jan Christiaan Smuts, OM, CH, PC, ED, KC, FRS (24 May 1870 &ndash 11 September 1950 was a prominent Edward Smith-Stanley redirects here for other persons with that name see Edward Stanley Lord Stanley Benjamin Disraeli 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC, FRS (born Benjamin D'Israeli; 21 December 1804 &ndash 19 April 1881 was George Canning (11 April 1770 &ndash 8 August 1827 was a British statesman and Politician who served as Foreign Secretary and is at present the shortest serving On 29 August 2007, a nine-foot high bronze statue of Nelson Mandela was erected in the square, Westminster City Council having objected to its erection in Trafalgar Square, due to space considerations. Events 708 - Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 708) Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (xolíɬaɬa mandéːla born 18 July 1918 is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in fully representative Trafalgar Square is a square in central London, England. With its position in the heart of London it is a tourist attraction its trademark is Nelson's It was unveiled by the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, in the presence of Wendy Woods, the widow of Donald Woods, the late anti-apartheid campaigner, and the former British actor and long-time friend of Woods, Lord Attenborough. WikipediaManual of Style (biographies#Academic titles --> James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951 is Donald James Woods, CBE ( December 15, 1933 – August 19, 2001) was a white South African journalist and anti- Apartheid Richard Samuel Attenborough Baron Attenborough

History

The statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square

Parliament Square was laid out in 1868 in order to open up the space around the Palace of Westminster and improve traffic flow, and featured London's first traffic signals. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can ( 30 November 1874 Year 1868 ( MDCCCLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap A substantial amount of property had to be cleared from the site. The architect responsible was Sir Charles Barry. Sir Charles Barry FRS ( 23 May 1795 &ndash 12 May 1860) was an English Architect, best known for his role Its original features included the Buxton Memorial Fountain, which was removed in 1940 and placed in its present position in nearby Victoria Tower Gardens in 1957. The Buxton Memorial Fountain is a memorial in London, the United Kingdom, that commemorates the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Victoria Tower Gardens is a public Park along the north bank of the River Thames in London. Year 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar) In 1950 the square was redesigned by George Grey Wornum. George Grey Wornum ( 17 April 1888 - 11 June 1957) was a British Architect. The central garden of the square was transferred from the Parliamentary Estate to the control of the Greater London Authority by the Greater London Authority Act 1999. The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories The Greater London Authority ( GLA) is the city-wide governing body for London, England. The Greater London Authority Act 1999 (1999 c 29 is the Act of Parliament that established the Greater London Authority, the London Assembly It has responsibility to light, cleanse, water, pave, and repair the garden, and has powers to make bylaws for the garden. A bylaw (sometimes also spelled by-law or byelaw) most commonly refers to a city or municipal law or ordinance passed under the authority of a Charter

The East side of the square, lying opposite one of the key entrances to the Palace of Westminster, has historically been a common site of protest against government action or inaction. On May Day 2000 the square was transformed into a giant allotment by a Reclaim the Streets guerrilla gardening action. May Day occurs on May 1 and refers to any of several Public holidays In many countries May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Allotment gardens are characterised by a concentration in one place of a few or up to several hundreds of land parcels that are assigned to individual families Reclaim the Streets ( RTS) is a collective with a shared ideal of Community ownership of Public spaces Participants characterize the collective as a Guerrilla gardening is political Gardening, a form of Nonviolent direct action, primarily practiced by environmentalists. Most recently, Brian Haw staged a continual protest there for several years, campaigning against British and American action in Iraq. Brian William Haw (born 1949 is a British former Carpenter who is famous for living in a Peace camp in Parliament Square since 2001 in The 2003 invasion of Iraq, from March 20 to May 1 2003 was spearheaded by the United States, backed by British forces and smaller contingents from Australia For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. Starting on 2 June 2001, Haw left his post only once, on 10 May 2004 - and then because he had been arrested on the charge of failing to leave the area during a security alert, and returned the following day when he was released. Events 455 - The Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Events 1291 - Scottish Nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " The disruption that Haw's protest is alleged to have caused led Parliament to insert a clause into the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 making it illegal to have protests in Parliament Square (or, indeed, in a large area reaching roughly half a mile in all directions) without first seeking the permission of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 ( SOCPA) (2005 c The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, usually just referred to as the Metropolitan Police Commissioner or more colloquially as the Met Commissioner, is the

As well as sparking a great deal of protest from various groups on the grounds of infringement of civil liberties including the European Convention on Human Rights, the Act was initially unsuccessful in accomplishing its goals: Brian Haw was held to be exempt from needing authorisation in a High Court ruling, as his protest had started before the Act came into effect (though any new protests would be covered); Haw remained in Parliament Square. thumb| |Broken Liberty Istanbul Archaeology Museum Civil liberties are freedoms that protect the Individual from the Government. The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (also called the "European Convention on Human Rights" and "ECHR" was adopted under the Later, the Court of Appeal overturned this ruling, forcing Haw to apply for police authorisation to continue his protest.

To commemorate New Zealand's national day (Waitangi Day), as Big Ben strikes 4 pm on the Saturday closest to 6 February, the annual expat-kiwi Circle Line pub crawl culminates in an epic 5,000+ strong mass haka (Maori war dance) in Parliament Square. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Waitangi Day is the National day of New Zealand. It is a public holiday held each year on February 6 to celebrate the signing of the Treaty The Clock Tower is the world's largest four-faced chiming Clock. The Circle line, coloured yellow on the tube map is the eighth busiest line on the London Underground. A pub crawl (sometimes called a bar tour, bar crawl or bar-hopping) is the act of one or more people drinking in multiple A haka is a traditional Dance form of the Māori of New Zealand.

Gallery of statues

George Canning	Earl of Derby	Benjamin Disraeli	Viscount Palmerston
Robert Peel	Jan Smuts	Nelson Mandela

References

The Buildings of England, London 6: Westminster, (2003) Simon Bradley and Nikolaus Pevsner. Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, ( January 30, 1902 &ndash August 18, 1983) was a German-born British scholar of ISBN 0-300-09595-3

External links

• Brian Haw's website