UK Newswire Archive
Police fail to start a riot - Stokescroft Riot - Ashley Road FRONTLINE 21 Apr 20
22-04-2011 15:16
FOOTAGE -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omytLxiA-cE Chill in the Amitabha buddhist centre in the morning and meet some crystal kids, join them for the midday meditation. Followed by sharing natural clarity in St Andrews park. Buddha blessed incense. In the park one of my new friends predicts riot vibes for the evening, no reason, just an ominous feeling.
Link antarma and craig in the evening. They go out for Falafells, and come back telling me they just help stop a riot on Picton Street by getting the street chanting "Ohm". They come back to get me and my camera. Ooookay. I'm not a frontline activist, I learned I do not resonate with angry people when I was in Tasmania . Half an hour later the 3 of us help stop a riot on Ashley Road.
We go back to chill out and chant the thousand names of Shakti. Wake up the next day, while we were chanting Tesco's was getting mullered.
According to the BBC -
Eyewitnesses said police fought running battles with hundreds of protesters, who dug up cobbles from the road to throw at them.
Police carried out the raid because they feared a nearby Tesco store was to be attacked with petrol bombs.
However, the raid led to trouble in nearby streets with bins and skips being set alight.
Assistant Chief Constable Rod Hansen said: "This was not an eviction but positive action to protect the store."
According to Bristol 24-7
People using Twitter to report on the events told of their fear as they tried to make their way back home own Cheltenham Road. Others wrote how only Tesco had been targeted and that one person who threw a brick at the window of the Bristol Credit Union was hauled away by the protesters themselves.... QUOTE “I was on the junction of Stokes Croft high street when the police charged what was only at that point a crowd (of about 100 but which quickly grew) down Ashley Road pretty much all the way to the end of it over the course of a couple of hours. Due to the absolute confusion a number of people had emerged from their houses only to shortly find they were the wrong side of a road block and got roped in to what became a three-hour running battle through pretty much all of the back streets coming off Ashley Road and in to St Pauls, numerous burning barracades were erected and a huge amount of people were battered and bloodied by police for attempting to approach police lines to get home to find friends. By this point there was devastation everywhere. All junctions were blocked by overturned glass bottle dumpsters and makeshift neighbourhood roadblocks blocks.
According to the website of the Avon and Somerset Constabularly
"Assistant Chief Constable Rod Hansen said:" Residents have called us to several incidents in the property over the past few days. Yesterday there was a very real threat to the local community from the petrol bombs that were being made and we needed to take positive action. If this was really a threat why were the bars not evacuated and if this was a quick response where did the Welsh police vans come from? This seemed pre-planned. I'm not accusing the police of lying yet, but I'm accusing Tescos of lying from the start.
"The safety of the public is paramount in any situation of this kind and we took the decision to carry out a swift arrest operation, following intelligence received about the criminal intentions of those who were occupying the building,"
Knocking local residents over with riot shields is not "The safety of the public is paramount"
"The fact that we seized petrol bombs illustrates the seriousness of this situation and the reason why we took this positive action." If this was really a threat why were the bars not evacuated and if this was a quick response where did the Welsh police vans come f rom? This seemed pre-planned.
"When 300 people congregated and a small minority from that group started small fires and throwing bottles, stones and other items at officers, we used well-rehearsed plans, which involved the use of officers from neighbouring forces to control what had become a volatile situation," said ACC Hansen.?
It was more than 300 people, it was everyone that was drinking on Stokescroft and all the residents who were woken up by the police helicopter. That's about a thousand at a guess with a small minority of maybe 300 angry people. The Thing is Stokescroft is anti-establishment. That's just the vibe. If Chris Chalkley wasn't making graffiti legitmate it would still be there, it is a de facto autonomous zone with a history of anarchy and activism. Police vans do not belong. "We used well-rehearsed plans" which resulted in the police retreating twice, Tesco's getting smashed and a clear sign to whatever authority said yes to Tescos and said yes to riot police - the power's that used to be are obsolete, your presence is neither requested nor permitted, good-bye.
Stokescroft to Gloucester Road is an obviously tangible ley line, necessary to maintain a one love vibe regardless of babylon on our doorstep, ESPECIALLY with them on our doorstep :-) x
Mercury is back on track. When does Mars conjunct with Uranus? :-)
FOOTAGE -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omytLxiA-cE Tesco Value Spraypaint
Smash EDO/ITT Pixie Action
22-04-2011 15:08
On Thursday 21st EDO/ITT got a late night visit from some passing black clad ninja pixies carrying gifts.Saving the NHS
22-04-2011 13:23
A well attended public meeting 'Save Our NHS - Kill the Bill' at the Nottingham Mechanics last night highlighted the threat of the government's Health and Social Care Bill 2011. Around 100 people packed the main hall of the event organised by Notts Save Our Services and others.
As the main invited speaker Colin Leyes pointed out, by opening the NHS up to 'any willing provider', market forces will dominate and price will become so much more important, so that richer people will be allowed to pay 'top ups' for better care. All hospitals will have to become Foundation Trusts if the bill is passed, operating as seperate entities who will compete to deliver hospital care. All services will be allowed to be sub-contracted. Private health providers are already rubbing their hands.
The St. Anns GP panel member Chris Udenze indicated that some GPs are already making a deal of money running Nottingham's four GP clusters and also if the Bill does go through it will be harder for patients to have a say, and they would have to find a way to have one.
The Nottingham University Hospitals Unison branch speaker Martin Benn explained that the Nations Healthcare treatment centre operating in the grounds of the Queens Medical Centre recently made a deal for a much worse provision of pharmacy (drugs) which was a cheaper tender but the contractor now admits they cannot provide the same level of service, after the treatment centre decided to cancel the contract with the existing provider. Should we be playing the price game with our health?
But it was not a united meeting by any means. Whilst various Labour candidates for local elections stood up to speak, panel speakers and other audience members stressed that the Labour Party's allowing of Independent Sector Treatment Centres and the heavy amount of Private Finance Initiative for hospital building and the introduction of Foundation Hospital status had paved the way for the current bill, and that the Department of Health had for a long time aimed to open the NHS to the market. Union members and officials got up and criticised their (and other) trade unions for not acting strongly enough in the past, in spite of the show of feeling on the large TUC organised demostration in London on March 26th. One was critical of the lack of continuity of Keep Our NHS Public in Nottingham. Another pointed out that at the recent meeting of Labour in Nottingham, ministers had said there would be no turning back of privatisation if they got back in power. So isn't that plain enough? As the the Unison speaker said, you can easily lose your hair waiting for Labour.
The Bill is not yet an Act and the coalition has been forced to take a pause, due to grassroots Lib Dem disquiet, everyone knowing that massive NHS reform was not on the election manifesto of either party. So there is a bit more time to act. But if party politics continue to dominate the campaigning the real effect of the intended reforms will remain confusing and misunderstood. The announcing of the closing of Hayward House Cancer Daycare unit on the grounds of City Hospital shows that premptive cuts are already happening, but that patients are starting to take heed and are mounting their own campaigns. A call for a 'roadshow' to take the message of opposition to the healthcare reforms by Sneinton Against the Cuts was well received. Hopefully, with effort, the community and patient or carer response will grow and the politicians will be forced to listen and back down or face the consequences. Links also need to be made to the effects of welfare cuts and cuts to council services that will leave many who are ill and disabled without support and whose health will no doubt decline as a result. Hopefully Notts SOS and local campaigns will be able to generate this climate of resistance over the coming months, turning the anger of the meeting into effective and widepread revolt.
European Anarchist Currents - Cowley Book Talks
22-04-2011 11:31
Cowley Books presents two talks in May by Gabriel Kuhn on 'Gustav Landauer & Early German Anarchism' and by David Berry on Daniel Guerin entitled '"Workers of the World Embrace!" Homophobia in the French Extreme Left.'
Full article | 1 addition | 1 comment
Cop vehicles and Tescos smashed in Bristol (Stokescroft) riot last night.
22-04-2011 09:59
Just a brief couple of pieces from the mainstream (ish) press and the police themselves.Stokes Croft Erupts As Police Evict Squat
22-04-2011 09:22
The Stokes Croft area of Bristol last night eruped into a mini-riot as the police moved to evict a squat.
The uneasy face-off between protesters and Police at the newly opened Tesco's on Stokes Croft erupted tonight in open violence and confrontation. 7 Ambulances and their Paramedics had to attend to take away the casualties. A spokeswoman for Avon & Somerset Police said 20 people had been arrested for Public Order offences and Criminal Damage...(Note BBC are reporting on this too) it's kicking off in stokes croft | A 1/4 Century Of Community Policy Destroyed | Image from gobletsgallery
Forest Fields Dispersal Order in force
22-04-2011 00:24
A dispersal Order issued under the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003, is in force in the Forest Fields area of Nottingham.
Say No to the Dispersal Order meeting. Sunday April 24th from midday, come to the Nottingham Solidarity Cafe at the Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Street.
A dispersal order has been placed on Forest Fields. It is aimed at groups of two or more people, or anyone under 16. It means that if you're standing on the street with friends and neighbours the police are allowed to ask you to move along. If you don't then it's a criminal offence. This is another example of police harassing the local community.
Let's work out together what we can do about this. We'll be meeting at the Sumac Centre on midday this Sunday 24th of April
Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 Part 4 - Dispersal of groups etc.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/38/part/4
Crown Prosecution Service CPS Guidance
http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/a_to_c/anti_social_behaviour_guidance/#Dispersal
Nottinghamshire Police : Beat Priorities & updates
http://www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/local/nottingham_city/basfordhyson_green/basford_and_hyson_green/forest_fields/
Nottingham Graffiti Blog
http://alanadale.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/a-tale-of-one-city-and-the-leafy-suburbs/
____________________________________________
ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK
Email: tash@indymedia.org
Web: http://digitaljournalist.eu
Member of the National Union of Journalists [NUJ]
____________________________________________
"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
___________________________________________
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squatter riot in st pauls, bristol
21-04-2011 23:10
a violent eviction by riot cops of "telepathic heights" on cheltenham rd, bristol instigated a mini riot in bristol this evening.