"Boycott Chelsea, shame on Chelsea!"

A man quickly covered up his wife’s fur-coat as 250 whistling and drumming demonstrators marched down Bromton Road, Knightsbridge, shouting “fur trade, death trade!”

The anti-fur rally last Saturday, then hit the corner of Sloane Avenue with a resounding “boycott Chelsea, shame on Chelsea,” while fingers pointed accusingly at several designer shops.

The demonstration was arranged by the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (caft), who spelt out the message against animal cruelty with appalling pictures of skinned animals.

Louise Stevenson, spokeswoman for caft, explained that Chelsea was targeted to encourage people to boycott the many designer shops selling fur in the area and added:

“There are things going on in the fur trade which are absolutely unnecessary, purely exploitative and have no place in civilised society.”

The demonstration ended in front of Harrods department store. There demonstrators held one minute of silence “in memory of the furbearing animals which die because of Harrods pro-fur policy”.

It was not possible to get a comment on the demonstration or their fur-policy from Harrods.


Reflective report
I found the story about the anti-fur demonstration by coincidence as I was shopping in the area and suddenly saw the demonstrators. Unfortunately I forgot my camera and pen at home but made some observations and picked up some leaflets and comments from the demonstrators.
As I could not take any quotes, I decided to call the organisation who arranged the demonstration the following Monday. I had the number from the leaflet, and after several attempts I got hold of Louise Stevenson. I found her comment on civilisation and exploitation very strong and therefore chose to use it as a quote. It would of course have been better to have a quote from the demonstration but as Ms Stevenson had been at the demonstration and was spokeswoman for the organisation, I thought her to be a good source. I also got permission from her to use one of the pictures taken by the organisation at the demonstration.
In the intro I attempted to bring the most vivid picture of the demonstrators and onlookers to the reader’s mind. I also wanted mention early in the article that the demonstrators were calling for a boycott on Chelsea, as I was confident that this would catch the eye of local residents - and the article was written with a local newspaper in mind.
I used many describing words to make the reader feel like s/he was there, and I also tried to give the article a quick pace as to recreate the energy and passion displayed during the demonstration.
As I combined the description of the demonstration with quotes and explanations from the demonstrators, I also wanted to give the target for the demonstration, Harrods, a change to present their views. But after several attempts by both phone and email I finally had to tell them that if I did not receive a comment within my deadline, the story would be published without their point of view in it.