|
Anger as pigeons banished from Trafalgar
19/01/2001 12:09 - (SA)
London - Trafalgar Square's last bird-feed vendor will be forced on Friday
to give up his stall that caters to the thousands of tourists who
flock to feed the pigeons in the shadow of Nelson's Column in
central London.
Mayor ("Red Ken") Ken Livingstone has drawn up plans to pedestrianise the
square, which stands at the head of the Mall leading through
Admiralty Arch through St James's Park down to Buckingham Palace,
and has decreed that the "flying rats" should go.
Pro-pigeon protesters followed Livingstone on his current
fact-finding tour of the United States and poured water over him
during a news conference in Washington DC.
"Your plan to poison pigeons is all wet. Mayor Livingstone starves
pigeons to death," a protester shouted on Thursday.
On Friday Bernard Rayner, the last feed vendor on the square, was
packing up, as the Greater London Authority began implementing a a
one-month phased withdrawal of feed on Trafalgar Square.
Experts have said many of the 30,000 to 40,000 pigeons that flock
to be fed on the square will die as a result of the policy.
The GLA plans to clean up the mess caused by pigeon droppings and
pedestrianise the upper part of the square, where the National
Gallery fronts onto it, to provide room for cultural events.
Livingstone spent the earlier part of the week in New York to find
out about its public transport and urban regeneration schemes
before spending two days in Washington as a guest at the annual
conference of US mayors.
- Sapa-DPA
- SAPA
|
