Drug Related Shooting Outside Parliament

Green shoots of marijuana sprout in Parliament Square

24th July 2000

They survived several public demonstrations and were seen by police on several occasions but still the marijuana plants sprouting in Parliament Square just grew and grew.

Along wth onions, gladioli, potatoes and an assortment of other horticulture, the cannabis plants growing from seeds planted outside the House of Parliament during the successful anti-capitalist guerilla gardening action on Mayday this year were sprouting in abundance.

Hunt Saboteurs attending an anti-hunt march a couple of weeks after Mayday were the first to spot the plants and telephoned SQUALL to report that the seedlings were as much as five inches high. Activists on the anti-hunt march thought it would be only a matter of time before the plants were destroyed because during the demo they had became the focus of much attention from both activists and police alike. However the weeks rolled by and a few more inches were added to the impromptu herbaceous borders.

Then of course the mainstream media got wind of the fecundity and demanded to know why there were cannabis plants growing just a seeds throw from where Jack Straw delivers his relentless anti-marijuana diatribes.

The spokesman for the Royal Parks Police said: "It [the plants] has been identified by horticulturists as cannabis but all we are going to do is clear everything out together with the flowers and plants and there will be no further police action.

"Since that May Day thing there have been all sorts of baby plants coming up, seedlings almost.

"There's been gladioli, carrots, onions and there's marigold and there's barley and broad beans and potatoes, but they are in seedling state.

'It's not really urgent is it?' he added. 'As far as fixing is concerned it's not the most urgent problem."

Subsequent to the bloated parliamentary outrage which ensued, the plants have now been destroyed except for a few gnarled cabbages which can still be seen tenaciously clinging to their future in the shadow of Big Ben.