Ray Kray's ZOO-top Protest
25 September 2005
by Mal and Ray 

It was just before seven in the morning on Saturday 24th September when Ray Kray arrived at his target in  Regents Park, London. There was very little activity as Ray surveyed the entrance gates to London Zoo. The plan was to scale the gates, get onto the roof and put up a large banner which said: "Free Bronson. 31 years inside, 27 in solitary. Why? Locked up like an animal. 23 hrs a day caged" next to a large photos of Charlie.

Ex-RAF Regiment Ray, 32 , is a seasoned veteran, having taken part in the rooftop protest at St. Margaret's Church (next to London's Westminster Abbey) with Charlie's son, Mike, in April of this year.

This particular climb had been planned for several months, with an original target date of 24th July. However, the London Bombings meant that it would have been an irresponsible act so soon after the mayhem and would probably have caused a massive over-reaction on the part of the already-rattled authorities, wasting huge amounts of Police time and possibly panicking the public. Ray decided to put the climb off for a couple of months. Read the news article here.

As Ray started to scale the gates, fellow Bronson supporter Danny started filming the protest. Ray said: "After looking the site over I decided that it would be a reasonable climb. But half way up I felt a sharp crack in my finger and I knew it had re-broken it, having first broken it some weeks ago."

Ray ignored the pain and continued on. He climbed onto the first roof only to discover that the tiles were loose and had to be very careful not to dislodge any. As he said: "This was a peaceful protest, so I didn't want to cause any damage to the Zoo's property. I wanted to get onto one of the higher roofs to the sides of the entrance gates, but when I tried I again found that the tiles were too loose, so I decided against it."

While Ray was setting out his banner, Zoo officials came out to ask him what he was doing and why he had chosen the Zoo. Ray told them that the Zoo was ideal because they kept animals caged there, but that if they treated their animals in the same way that Charlie was treated in prison there would be a public outcry against them. The officials said that they understood, but that they had to call the police and Ray replied that he was happy for them to make the call.

As Ray sat on the roof with his banner, many of the people walking by stopped to look and ask what was going on. Ray explained calmly to all exactly why he was there. Then the Police arrived and asked him the same questions. Ray explained that it was a peaceful protest to highlight the plight of Charlie Bronson and that he had been very careful not to cause any damage. They asked him if he was ready to come down, but Ray declined, saying that he had travelled a long way to hold his one-man protest, but that he would come down before the Zoo opened to the public, so as not to disrupt their business.

The Police discussed the matter with the Zoo officials, who very magnanimously said that they understood why he was there and did not wish to press charges against Ray as he had been so polite and considerate. So it was that, when Ray finally climbed down at nine o'clock, the Police allowed him to leave without arresting him.