Talk:Dongas road protest group

Description Misleading

The Dongas Tribe was never a well-defined unit of people as described here. Nor were they mostly musicians. They were a mixed group of activists from different backgrounds, and the membership varied a lot over time, and according to expected activity by the development authorities, landlord, bailiffs, sheriffs etc. I don't even think it is accurate to say that most members were 'in their early twenties' (I was there at the time). I will try to re-word this. Centrepull (talk)

I agree and have made some changes (I was there too!). Hope they're OK —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.96.226.6 (talk) 14:59, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

The concept of a 'tribe' was being used at the same time by Spiral Tribe who were a music-based collective. The group camped at Twyford Down was small - fewer than ten permanent occupiers - and it was only after the 'Yellow Wednesday' attack by Group 4 security that they started to be seen as a cohesive protest group, rather than simply another of the pockets of travellers living all over the Hampshire countryside at the time. Yellow Wednesday was comparible with The Battle of the Beanfield as it was a punitive action aimed to disrupt and intimidate perceived anti-government groups. It backfired because a) the attackers were not police officers but private security workers, some with criminal records, and b) the attackees were mostly very young women, who reported being sexually assaulted during the raid. This gained a lot of media attention and resulting public sympathy - and the number of people actively taking part in the anti-M3 movement immediately increased by hundreds and thousands. The 'Donga Tribe' then became a focus of this interest, as well as a useful shorthand for the media. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.65.26.186 (talk) 11:07, 22 April 2013 (UTC)