They held signs and began gathering hours before a hearing in downtown Los Angeles they hoped would end with Britney Spears finally being released from the conservatorship that has governed her life for 13 years. “It’s Her Circus,” said one sign. “What’s Next,” said another. It was clear many of the fans anticipated that the outcome Friday would be good news for the pop star. And their predictions turned out to be right after a judge ruled to end the conservatorship. “We’re very happy this is happening,” said Diego Tamayo, 18. “This is a grass-roots movement that was exactly what was needed to free her. Hopefully she’ll now be able to live freely as a woman.” The “Free Britney” movement has driven public pressure to end the legal arrangement. Some of the fans who gathered outside the Stanley Mosk Courthouse on Friday had also been there on Sept. 29, when a judge suspended Ms. Spears’s father as her conservator. The area on Grand Avenue in front of the courthouse has become the de facto hub for the movement. By 11:30 a.m., it was filled with some 75 fans, many of them dressed in the hot pink shirts that have come to be associated with the star. As in September, some supporters had traveled from across the country to attend the rally. Many had been following Ms. Spears’s conservatorship case and ongoing legal dispute for years, connecting on social media to share information, galvanize support and organize rallies. “This is going to be the end of her conservatorship,” predicted Alexandra Beck, 25, who traveled from Maryland to attend the rally. “This has become a huge movement — not just for her but for anyone suffering from conservatorship abuse.” As the start of the hearing approached, anticipation pulsed through the crowd as a rally stage was being set up on the sealed off avenue in front of the courthouse. “It’s crazy that she would be placed in a conservatorship like this,” said Julius Skestos, 19. “It’s something that seemed to me as being explicitly wrong.” Nearby “Free Britney” had been scrawled in chalk in large letters in the street.
Source: Music - nytimes.com
