Emo protest in London

My Chemical Romance fans march in capital

31 May 08 - Fans of My Chemical Romance took to the streets in London to protest about the negative image of the US band.

The fans have targeted the offices of the Daily Mail in west London, which is one of the newspapers to report on the band's young followers. A statement from the paper defended their coverage and said that others had pointed out that the event was "wonderful publicity" for the band's new album.

This month an inquest into the suicide of 13-year-old Hannah Bond from Kent last september found that she had become heavily involved in 'emo' music and My Chemical Romance. Recording a verdict of suicide, coroner Richard Sykes said: "The Emo overtones concerning death and associating it with glamour I find very disturbing."

"Anti-suicide "

My Chemical Romance recently issued a statement offering their condolences and insisting they are "vocally anti-violence and anti-suicide", and the negative image of the band led to around 200 fans assembling at Marble Arch with around 40 at Kensington High Street.

Following an appearance on Radio 4's Today programme, organiser Anni Smith visited 6 Music and told us My Chemical Romance aren't harmful.

"I've learned a lot of how to deal with life, how to move on and how to keep myself up when I'm down from My Chemical Romance," said the 16-year-old. "I think that's an extremely valuable thing which can be very positive in your teenage years."

"I've learned a lot of how to deal with life from My Chemical Romance"
Fan and protest organiser Anni Smith

Speaking at the protest later, Anni told us: “The demo has been absolutely amazing. The support fans have shown, the unity and not only that, other people have turned up as well.

“It’s also been really cool because we’ve hung out with other My Chemical Romance fans.”

The Daily Mail issued a statement at the same time as the fans took to the streets.

The paper said: "The Daily Mail's coverage of the 'Emo' movement has been balanced, restrained and above all, in the public interest. Genuine concerns were raised at the inquest earlier this month on 13 year old emo follower Hannah Bond who had been self-harming and then tragically killed herself."

Tragedy

The Daily Mail added: "In common with other newspapers we ran an accurate news story recording the Coroner's remarks and the parents' comments. We also published two other articles, one of which explained the background to the Hannah tragedy in calm and un-sensational language.

"The other was a first person opinion piece by a well-known writer, written from the perspective of a mother concerned for her children.

"We have also run two prominent page lead letters from an Emo music fan and from a fan of My Chemical Romance defending their point of view. Our music critic admires the music of the band and publicised the band's UK tour last year.

"Since this protest was announced a great deal of misinformation has appeared on the internet, much of which confuses what the Daily Mail has actually published with the comments of web site readers and "blogs" over which we have no control and which have stirred up emotions."

"Wonderful publicity"

The statement continues: "We note it has been pointed out by others that all this provides wonderful publicity for Warners and their impending release of My Chemical Romance's latest album.

"The Daily Mail is a broad church and is always ready to listen to the views of readers. We do, however, suggest those who want to protest or comment read everything we have published and act on fact not rumour."

My Chemical Romance have been working on the follow-up to their 2006 album The Black Parade .

Jennifer Adae