UK Indymedia - UK Social Struggles Newswire Archive

Brighton May Day- Only 3 Days to Go

27-04-2011 21:11

A mass party & protest, called for by a coalition of Brighton protest groups, will kick off at midday on Saturday 30th April. It's main focus will be on the banks and politicians who gambled with our futures, but we may also pay a visit to some of Brighton's other less savoury locations such as arms factory EDO, tax dodgers Top Shop and properties owned by local landlord and thug Nicolas van Hoogstraten.

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Barnardo's Detention Centre Flyer

27-04-2011 12:12

No Borders South Wales have produced a double-sided A5 flyer in opposition to Barnardo's complicity in the Pease Pottage family detention centre.

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Thailand's Original Colour Revolution

27-04-2011 09:03

Thailand's on the verge of a fourth American backed military coup.

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A right royal cock-up

27-04-2011 08:13

The anarchists, the press and the provocateurs

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UG#546 - How The Environmental Movement Died of Success (& What To Do About It)

26-04-2011 18:31

The show this week looks at the soft underbelly of the corporate system - the growing awareness that it is destroying the planet. First we hear from the ALF/ELF spokesman, Steve Best, who advocates any and all kinds of direct action to defend the earth and prevent its plunder. Then it's a talk from John Stauber on how the environmental movement died as a result of cooptation by big corporations.

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Stop Griffin speaking

26-04-2011 17:08

He's a liar anyway...

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US Struggles To Contain 'Arab Spring'

26-04-2011 11:27

We're nearly into May, and the Arab uprisings which have shaken US imperialism since the start of the year show no sign of running out of steam. But why would they? Though they have generally taken the form of pro-democracy movements against tyranny, those taking part are pushed forward by their material needs for food, shelter and clothing. Needs which remain unfulfilled in every case.

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Cut Cake Not Services Guerrilla Picnic

26-04-2011 11:20

A group of local Telford residents will be hosting a guerrilla picnic themed 'Cake Not Cuts' at the Telford Town Park Amphitheatre on Monday 1st May from midday onwards.

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Mayday! Mayday! Save our libraries!

25-04-2011 17:36

To celebrate International Workers’ Day Library Workers For A Brighter Future and Sheffield Uncut would like to invite you to the opening of the Sheffield Peoples’ Library

http://ukuncut.org.uk/actions/525 . The exact location is yet to be confirmed, but we will meet in Cathedral Square at 1pm and proceed to the venue which we will occupy and transform into a library.

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Kettled in Brighton

24-04-2011 23:14

One does not expect to get off a train and be held in a police kettle in Brighton. But that is what happened midday today.

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The Battle of Stokes Croft

23-04-2011 16:09

Around 10pm on Thursday 21st April, people from Stokes Croft and St Pauls in Bristol, reacting to blatant provocation, started attacking riot police gathered from three different forces with glass bottles. What ensued was seven hours of constant clashes; police charges, volleys of glass, brick and concrete, burning barricades and the trashing of a much-loathed Tesco recently forced on a community who for so long battled to stop it opening.

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Picnic and Party Against Atos Origin - part 2 - 9/5/11

23-04-2011 14:12

As part of the National Week of Action Against Atos Origin, beginning on Monday 9th May, a second Party and Picnic against Atos will take place on the 9th May from 2pm at their Head Office in Triton square, near Euston.

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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

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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.

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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.

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The unemployable

21-04-2011 21:14

Interesting article.... a dependency on the state through welfare.
This made me think: What happens when we manage to destroy The State?
Where will these people who are so dependent on it get their money from?
I realise many can do things like get a grant off the Arts Council or something, but if we are talking about 80,000 that is going to be a lot of hungry mouths.

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Defend Our May Day!

21-04-2011 19:15

Getting in on the May Day action in Bath...

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To Farm or to Die, Resist the Iron Mine! Indonesian Embassy Visit.

21-04-2011 16:35

On the afternoon of Thursday the 21st of April 2011 we visited the Indonesian Embassy in London, UK to deliver a letter to the Indonesian Government in Jakarta. This was done in solidarity with the people of Kulon Progo, whose lives and land are threatened by the Iron Sands Mining Project being carried out by the Australian Mining Company PT Indomine and the Indonesian State.

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Locked Out Vivergo Workers Continue Their Fight For Jobs

21-04-2011 14:28

Last week I reported how construction workers at a biofuels plant near Hull were facing opposition from their ultimate employers, the police, and trade union tops as they fought for their jobs and employment rights. Yesterday morning it was announced that the Vivergo oil company had agreed a £1.2 million compensation package with the sub-contractors, Redhall. The deal - which would have amounted to nearly £3,250 for each of three hundred and seventy workers - was decisively rejected by a mass meeting later in the day, against the advice of Unite bureaucrats.

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Request by New Zealand Human Rights outsider to appear before UN committee

21-04-2011 05:41

Human rights omissions in the New Zealand Bill of Rights were designed to strongly favor a Pakeha/Maori 'tribal' elite partnership under the Treaty of Waitangi and to created a 'tribal New Zealand'. The results were tragic - New Zealand lost its human rights innocence - there was a major tragedy at the bottom of the social scale also including many 'tall poppies' from all social classes and all born out by the social statistics.