In hungary, tha "main" critical mass events are well organized and legal, hence escorted by police. Nevertheless we are used to do other events, approximately once a month. We call them sightseeing tours, as demonstrations have to be told to the police in advance. However on one of the last tours the cops escorted the tour an made videos. We will release these videos as soon as we are ready with putting appropriate music (for example the song titled "Brig Brother" from the band called "URH";) under it, an mask out the face of those whose consent we could not obtain.

Of course both sides know the meaning of the expression "critical mass", and we all know why these tours are done. We have choosen to keep things completely legal; even on "small" CMs we make a point of adhering to all traffic rules. But we choose routes where ridiculousness of some rules came obvious;) We keep cycling absolutely legally, and make a noise at the first attempt to stop us doing that.

I personally think that it is very hard to organize absolutely classical CMs, where "no one organizes", and things which not compliant with traffic rules do happen. And also it would give a bad PR.

Well, and keep an eye on "radical walkers" as well. They also do nice things, and they are beyond trying to negotiate with police;) Tried it, didn't work. Unfortunately they keep rather low profile on what they will do and when, but I am sure that it will be very cool.

About politics: there simply wasn't other way to keep it separate from party politics an under 200km long.

--
a bátor kommutátor

I think a real BIG and ILLEGAL Critical Mass in Budapest wouldn't be so successful.
We want safety on the roads (and some other things). If we demand this in an illegal form the goverment would say "No way".