...and the Met top cop (Mason) considers banning all demos in london over mayday period....How? It's a free counrty and if I want to celebrate Beltane, which I do, and not vote, which I don't...then that's my perogative, not a crime! A good humoured festival was planned last year with children present, not a violent protest, and that's what it was until the military police surrounded Trafalgar Square, trapped the revellers and began attacking us with battons!

It sounds just like all the pre-mayday 2000 press articles that ranted about expecting worse violence than june18th with nutters running around the city with pick axes and shovels!

This type of coverage will just get worse especially because of the election looming in May.

Good luck to all maydayers and fuck the corporate media with their lies!

Yes and media coverage of the actual event will be non-existent, apart from one clip of a beligerent protester attacking police! I endorse the above sentiment and fuck them all...you know they want a riot, to impose martial law!

We can't be suprised about the attitudes shown by the police and corporate media. Amazing how none of the three papers i wrote to about this and similar articles (7 letters)published my letters. We've got to try and defeat them -get the public on our side will help through mass leafleting and community help actions -SHOW WHO ARE THE REAL CRIMINALS!

I wrote a wicked letter about Jack Straw's Draconian Anti-Social Behaviour Law, to the Guardian...asking how many of the great pillars and bastions (bastards) of society would have fallen foul of this law in their formative years? needless to say...it never saw print!

How da FUCK can you ban an illegal demo. That dip shit
police commision is shitting his pants because there will
be NO centralised action on MAYDAY. WE ARE EVERYWHERE. How
many people will be on the streets? What are the targets? What will they do? All your gonna get is 15,000 pigs in London not knowing were to go, what to do or what to expect.
All power to the imagination!

Lets keep it decentralised - make the coppers weep with agony. They know how to handle a large crowd and centralised marches and rallies, but when it comes to 100s of autonomous actions, they won't know what hit em. I suggest everyone get together a group of 10-30 friends, conduct an action, and then go and join one of the many 'teams' (boot/hat/boat) who will be roaming the city; hopefully complete with samba bands, gigantic dice which will roll down the street and more... Remember, after all the hard work of completing an action, everyone regroups as a symbolic act (showing that our diverse struggles are all linked in their opposition to capitalism) and we can have a fuck-off party!

Vote nobody! Act autonomously!

Hey Morgana and gawkrodger,
could you post the letters you sent to the papers here?

Plus it strikes me that if there'll be lots of groups roaming around - isn't that the perfect time to get out loads of agit-prop? Seems like an opportunity too good to miss!

Oh and re that times article don't forget the new terror laws come into play *this* monday (19/02/01 - see  http://go.to/ta2000)

The incredible thing is the diversity of causes represented by demonstrators. Free Tibet, No to WTO, Trident out, anti-corporate multinationals, environmentalists, anarchists, No GMO's...and all these things add up to NWO! Global, fascist tyranny, I'd rather die than comply.

Telegraph reporter gets creative with truth - as 15000 european activists (??!!) prepare to cause a 'bloody and violent conflagration' (!!!?) in order to disrupt the general election (despite mayday 2001 having been planned long before the stupid election appeared on the horizon)...

...outrageous!

Sunday 18 February 2001

'Monopoly' anarchists plan May Day havoc in bid to wreck polling By David Bamber, Home Affairs Correspondent

THOUSANDS of anarchists plan to take over London streets on May Day in a violent version of Monopoly, seizing hotels and company headquarters in an effort to disrupt the expected general election.

Police have uncovered plans for more than 15,000 extremists to converge on London from all over Europe on May 1, two days before the country is likely to go to the polls. Ministers are bracing themselves for what could be one of Britain's worst outbreaks of mass anarchist violence.

The Metropolitan Police has cancelled all leave and forces around the capital and the Army could be drafted in to quell riots. Activists have drawn up what detectives are calling "the Monopoly Board mayhem" strategy, in which they will target well-known streets and areas such as Park Lane and Mayfair.


snip

A senior police insider said: "Their aim is clear. They want a violent and bloody conflagration on the streets. They want to disrupt polling and cause anarchy. If they could affect the general election it would be the greatest possible propaganda coup". Sir John has promised to "meet, match and beat" the anarchists, but he is clearly worried that the capital could lurch out of control.

snip

This time more than 15,000 dedicated, hardened activists from all over Europe will descend on just one target, central London. Websites will tell protesters where to gather, and police expect that they will choose a main Tube station such as Tottenham Court Road.

Among the anarchists who are likely to attend are those from the Black Flag movement and German terrorists. These are the same people who caused trouble at the meeting of the G8 group of economic powers last year at Seattle in America.

snip

...a 'bloody and violent conflagration' whose blood? Ours, it's YOU that are armed! When nobody turns up to vote for nobody at the election, of course it will all be OUR (anarchists/terrorists) fault, not their fucking policies!

Imaginary Times
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 13 2001
Police plot May demonstration to disrupt London

BY STEWART "MI5 PART-TIMER" AND DANIEL "I ONLY READ PRESS RELEASES" MCGRORY

EXTREMIST police commanders are plotting to paralyse London with violent cop riots 48 hours before the expected general election, to remind everybody just who is in charge.

Unintelligible reports suggest that the Metropolitan police are recruiting support from neighbouring police forces to choke the capital on May 1. They intend their cop riots to spill over to election day. In a rare demonstration of intelligence, police have learned to read public internet
discussion lists. There are fears that police ring leaders are intent on causing more trouble than at last years
May Day, when a small band of peaceful gardeners was vastly outnumbered by Stasi-style cop squaddies in full riot gear.

Sir Chief Cop Mason Overlord of the Metropolitan police, said that he was drawing up plans to cancel all police leave over May Day and is considering arming his coppers with semi-automatic machine guns. "We will not tolerate
peaceful protest," he said, "Our boys need a riot. It's wot they are trained for, innit?"

He has been shown unintelligible reports on how police commanders and government ministers want to exploit the timing of their May Day cop riot to embarrass the global movements for social and environmental justice. "We'll
have no justice here," said one bit of paper that could have been written by anybody.

The Metropolitan police are urging violent coppers from neighbouring forces to join in because of the pro-cop publicity that can be expected from the Corporate-controlled media so close to a general election. "If it moves shoot, and shoot to kill" said some other bit of paper that may or may not have anything to do with May Day.

Police blood lust for a ruddy great ruck is shared by government ministers who like nothing better than seeing people beaten into submission. "What they kill, we will eat" it said somewhere. Every security agency in the
country has been told to concentrate its efforts on generating a climate of fear and hatred in the run
up to the cop riot. "Where's my truncheon?" said a top cop.

Sir Overlord said that if necessary he would borrow mentally-unbalanced officers with a record of violent and dangerous behaviour from neighbouring forces to reinforce his own band of thugs. Last year the police planned to
break loads of heads, but they were thwarted by women and children playing and planting seeds in the sunshine. This year he said that the Yard had drawn up contingency plans.

"If anybody's going to damage property or attack people it's going to be us," Sir Overlord said.

The problem with the police and other intelligence services is that they protect the interests of the bosses, the government and other toadies.

The belief is that the cops will be protest at a well-known, symbolic London venue, which will be advertised on the Internet -but the real trouble will come from breakaway groups that will roam the capital shooting at anything
that moves. "We live in a police state, so let's make sure it looks like one," it said.

(it's that - they're using the internet story again...)

Thursday, 22 February, 2001, 17:45 GMT
Police fear more May Day riots

A worldwide day of protest is expected on May Day 2001

Foreign anarchist groups may be planning to descend on London for a repeat of last year's anti-capitalism May Day protests.

Police fear UK activists will be joined by groups from abroad for riots and disruption which could last days.

Metropolitan Commissioner Sir John Stevens said anarchists were using the internet to plot their campaign.

Their intention is to disrupt the everyday workings of London life

Metropolitan Commissioner Sir John Stevens
"There's intelligence to suggest that a variety of anarchists and other groups are organising anti-capitalism protests on May Day," he said.

"There are strong indications to suggest that planning by protest groups is well advanced and that their intention is to disrupt the everyday workings of London life."

Last year, 97 people were arrested after shops were smashed and protesters clashed with police on 1 May.

A number of London landmarks - including the Cenotaph and the statue of Winston Churchill - were vandalised during the riots.

Nine police officers were hurt during the protest around Parliament Square and Whitehall, condemned by the government as "criminality and thuggery masquerading as political protest".

Not all action was violent - some protesters made a garden and planted cannabis seeds in Parliament Square.

The disruption followed the J18 Carnival against Capitalism in the city on 18 June, 1999.

May Day 'Monopoly'

Activists targeted the World Economic Forum summit in the Swiss ski resort of Davos in January and meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Prague last September.

May Day 2001, dubbed M1 2k01, is expected to prompt demonstrations from anti-capitalist and other protest groups around the world, not just in London.

Activists in Australia are already calling on supporters for a "shutdown of corporate Melbourne" with mass mobile blockades, street parties, music and performances on 1 May.

The London action is expected to be themed on the Monopoly board game with different groups carrying out actions throughout the city, relating to squares on the Monopoly board.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1184000/1184668.stm
===========================


amazing! -
''Not all action was violent - some protesters made a garden and planted cannabis seeds in Parliament Square''

completely amazing the way they reverse the truth!!!!!!!!!!!! it makes me sooooo angry!

Thursday 22nd February 2001
 http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_216671.html


Anarchists 'using internet to plot may day riots'

Police believe anarchists from abroad are planning to join activists in England for a repeat of last year's violent anti-capitalism May Day protests.

Officers fear a repeat of the riots which erupted in London last summer and believe the disruption could last for more than one day.

Metropolitan Commissioner Sir John Stevens says anarchists are using the internet to plot their campaign.

"There's intelligence to suggest that a variety of anarchists and other groups are organising anti-capitalism protests on May Day," he said.

"There are strong indications to suggest that planning by protest groups is well advanced and that their intention is to disrupt the everyday workings of London life."

Last year dozens of people were arrested after shops were smashed and protesters clashed with police.

A number of London landmarks - including the Cenotaph - were vandalised during the riots.

Last updated: 16:51 Thursday 22nd February 2001

===============

So why don't these fucking corp media sites link to the campaign websites then?

They did link to j18 site a couple of years ago, but after they broke and really pushed this 'evil internet organising violence' story post j18, the cops started asking media folk not to print url's of protest sites because it would just lead to more violence etc - and it seems as if the media now follow that instruction... even when writing a story about the use of the net - doh!

They list:

Reclaim the Streets  http://www.reclaimthestreets.net/
May Day 2000 Protest  http://www.freespeech.org/mayday2k/
City of London Police  http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/citypolice
Metropolitan Police  http://www.met.police.uk/

(though they are one of the very few sites that do)

________________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
 http://www.ainfos.ca/
________________________________________________

MEDIA SMEARS AGAINST
THE PROTEST MOVEMENT

About once a week, we are seeing smears against the
protest milieu. Taken as a whole, a picture builds up.
As reported previously, the Mayday Monopolists [18th
February 2001]
 http://www.ainfos.ca/ainfos05902.html
are portrayed as a gross threat, this year's
equivalent of J-18, Seattle N30 and Prague. Cover up
your Winston Churchill statues! The Class War / MA'AM
inspired 'Urban Alliance' protests against the
Countryside Alliance Tory front have got them worried,
and the success of the animal rights protests at
Huntingdon; all show how the protest movement is
becoming more effective. In this report, we see a fake
story about threats to 'Countryside Alliance' members'
houses, and an outrageous, wholly spurious accusation
that animal rights protesters are responsible for the
foot and mouth outbreak. Tomorrow's 'Sunday Telegraph'
newspaper [March 11th] claims protesters have put Llin
Golding, MP for Newcastle Under Lyme, Staffordshire,
and sports minister Kate Hoey on a hit list. They have
been told to expect bomb attacks. All this is
sensationalist nonsense, but what lies behind the
hype? The protest movements have come to be seen as a
threat, and so subject to this rolling black
propaganda campaign.

MONOPOLY ANARCHISTS
The Sunday Telegraph, Feb 18th 2001, (David Bamber)
reports how anarchists plan to disrupt Mayday and the
UK general election, using the Monopoly board game as
a template. 15,000 extremists plan to converge on
London. The Metropolitan Police has cancelled all
leave, we are told, and the army might be called in.
'Their aim is clear' a senior police insider told
reporters, 'They want a violent and bloody
conflagration on the streets. They want to disrupt
polling and cause anarchy. If they could affect the
general election, it would be the greatest possible
propaganda coup.' The special squad who tracked down
David Copeland, the Nazi nailbomber is to be called
in.

FOGGO AGAIN
In the same issue of the same paper, we learn from
Daniel Foggo, the reporter who broke the story about
the fake branding of the letters 'AL-F' on the back of
Channel 4 'Dispatches' journalist 'Mr Badger Baiter'
Graham Hall, that Andrew Wasley the press officer of
the League Against Cruel Sports, was jailed for
protesting at Hillgrove Cat Farm. The paper prints a
picture of a masked-up hunt sab, with a CB radio,
claiming it is Wasley. We only have their word for it,
of course...

COUNTRYSIDE MARCH
HOME ATTACKS
'Chaos and class war looms as country heads for the
capital' the headline rages. On 25th February, The
Observer (Paul Harris) claimed that while Countryside
Alliance members would be away from their homes on the
18th March protest, animal rights protesters from the
ALF and the 'Justice Department' planned to publish
the addresses of 200 key Alliance members on the
internet, and then attack their houses and farms. Once
again, all police leave has been cancelled for the
City! Special Branch were being called in to follow
troublemakers. The anti-Alliance protesters were also
planning to attack members of the BNP going on the
rally. To add confusion to the scene, the spectre of
last September's fuel price protests was again raised.
Here is a bandwaggon anybody can jump on. The finger
on the pulse? A shock, insightful analysis from
somebody who knows what is going on? Hardly. The day
after Paul Harris' report, the whole rally was
cancelled due to the foot and mouth plague.

ANIMAL RIGHTS INVOLVED IN
BIOLOGICAL WARFARE?
It gets worse though. Daily Mirror, 2nd March 2001,
(Paul Gilfeather) blames animal rights protesters for
the foot and mouth disease. 'Did Animal Fanatics Start
Foot and Mouth?' What evidence does he cite? - The
James Bond film 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'
where Blofeld threatens to contaminate the world with
foot and mouth virus. Ridiculous! This and an
anonymous office rumour inside MAFF... As with the
swine fever, it would only take one dropped
contaminated pie or sandwich to spread the disease to
farms.

No surprise at all to find the same ideas in the
Observer, 4th March 2001. 'Who's to blame'? it says,
with a panel showing pictures of farmers,
supermarkets, and right in the centre, the prime
suspects, a skull-mask wearing animal rights activist,
and then further across, foreign farmers and the
government.

ANALYSIS
The pace of the smears is coming fast and furious. It
has a clear dynamic, aimed against Mayday, which is
their focal point. The stories are being placed in the
media by crime correspondents, journalists with links
to the police.

The period before 3rd May, (the date most likely for
the general election) is also the time to put out
political campaigns. What we are looking at here, is
the dodgier more political end of the police or
security state staking out its territory. Crap stories
about the protest movement are the police's own
election campaign. 'We need more cops, we need more
surveillance, greater monitoring of protest groups.'
they are saying.

Expect more of the same.


********
****** The A-Infos News Service ******
News about and of interest to anarchists
******
COMMANDS:  lists@ainfos.ca
REPLIES:  a-infos-d@ainfos.ca
HELP:  a-infos-org@ainfos.ca
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INFO:  http://www.ainfos.ca/org

"46 days to stop wave of riots + mayhem" - Mayday Media War
by getting ridiculous! 6:39am Mon Mar 19 '01


Aside from the fact that this starts off with lies anyway - the photos have all been published on the net by the met last year - a very balanced article indeed...ahem.
 http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/4192204

Photo exclusive - Do you recognise May rioters?

NAME A THUG

DO YOU KNOW THIS MAN? Protester outside Downing Street

PICTURED together for the first time, these are 28 prime suspects in Britain’s biggest manhunt.

Police are racing against time to track them down before a wave of riots and mayhem hits the streets.

The clock is already ticking. Latest intelligence pinpoints May 1, May 2 and possible election day May 3 as the likeliest dates for trouble.

That’s 46 days from today at best to stop a wave of destruction that cost millions when it first ripped through London last May 1.

The 28 were all captured on police videos and CCTV during last year’s May Day riot in London.

Then 5,000 anarchists tore through the capital, desecrating the Cenotaph and Churchill’s statue, trashing businesses and attacking police with scaffolding pipes.

Det Chief Inspector Jim Dickie, who is leading the hunt, codenamed Operation Rileyhill, told the News of the World: “These men are all wanted for questioning. I would say to them, if you were demonstrating peacefully you have nothing to fear. But if you’ve committed a criminal offence, we'll identify you and we'll get you.”

At least three of the 28 pictured here are believed to be members of the Turkish communist party. Cops believe overseas anarchists will be in the thick of any new rioting.

In just one day after last year’s outrage, seven out of 11 people who appeared in court held foreign passports.

Do you recognise any of them or know where they are? Call the police on 020 7321 9251, Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or the News of the World on 020 7782 1001.
===========================================

www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/4192204

Anarchists plot London Mayday riot
by James Clark 5:40pm Mon Mar 19 '01

March 18 2001 BRITAIN
©
Anarchy rules: police fear the violence of the past two years will worsen as groups of foreign protesters descend on London in large numbers. Photograph: Dylan Martinez

Anarchists plot London Mayday riot
James Clark, Home Affairs Correspondent

POLICE are bracing themselves for tens of thousands of anarchist protesters in London on May 1 after uncovering detailed plans for violence.

The so-called Mayday protest has descended into fighting, vandalism and arson on the past two occasions it has been held. Monuments have been defaced and shops and offices attacked.

Police believe this year's event - the first to be held on a working day in the capital rather than a bank holiday - is set to be the biggest, with as many as 300 groups taking part. Last year's attracted an estimated 150,000 people.

Demonstrators from America, Germany, France and Turkey have been told to come to London for the 2001 event, rather than holding protests in their own cities.

For the first time the event will see anti-globalisation demonstrators teaming up with animal rights activists, anarchists and others in what police fear could become an annual protest event for organisations from across Europe and America.

One group is calling its event "Mayday Monopoly" and is issuing "an invitation to play". It says: "The Vision: An unlimited number of players transforming the streets of London with a life-sized game of Monopoly played on Tuesday, May 1, 2001.

"As we celebrate this year, we should remember that by acting collectively we have the power to bring the whole game to an end."

Tactics uncovered by police include:


Turkish communists who will try to lure Metropolitan police officers into baton-charging women and children by falling back behind them after pelting officers with missiles. They are planning to arrive in London at Waterloo station.

Animal rights activists who will stage a separate march, targeting companies linked to animal experimentation. It is understood that they will include members of the Justice Department, a loose coalition of pro- violence animal rights groups that has claimed responsibility for sending booby-trapped letters containing razor blades soaked in rat poison.

The use of small hit squads of anarchists and "eco warriors", co-ordinated by spotters with mobile phones. They will be directed to locations away from the police. Their task, according to one internet-based instruction, will be to "cause as much damage as possible and then scatter".
Targets will include the City premises of a leading insurer and a merchant bank that paid its staff £1m-plus bonuses at the end of last month. Attacks are also being prepared on the Royal Bank of Scotland, because of its financial support for Huntingdon Life Sciences, the Cambridgeshire firm which uses animals in experiments.

Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan police commissioner, has cancelled all police leave for three days before and two days after the protest. Reinforcements may be drafted in from neighbouring forces.

He has told senior staff there must be no repeat of the attacks on monuments seen last year. The statue of Sir Winston Churchill, the Cenotaph and other monuments that were attacked last year will be boarded up and protected by riot police.

There is also a possibility of the Square Mile - London's financial district - being closed in a "ring of steel" through which only those who can prove they work or live in the area will be allowed to pass.

In last year's London riots 95 people were arrested, including Britons, Dutch, Kurds, Italians, an Ecuadorian, Greeks, a Singaporian, a Portuguese, one New Zealander, Turks and two Americans. Damage to property was estimated at £500,000, and the violence led to 12 being injured, including three police officers.

At one of the most vicious anti-capitalist protests - during the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle, Washington, in November 1999 - there were more than 400 arrests, 40 injuries and £1.5m of damage was caused to the city centre. An estimated 30,000 protesters from around the world attended. Yesterday 50 police and 70 protesters wre injured in clashes outside a global forum on internet technology in Naples.

Special Branch is aware of plans for further co-operation after May 1 in which GlaxoSmithKline, the drug firm, is to be targeted by those who attacked staff working for Huntingdon Life Sciences.

 http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/03/18/stinwenws02019.html

150, 000 people!!? Last year they were saying between 5000 and 6000. Bit of an exageration - by 100, 000! If only that many did turn out hey!? Anyway, wot with all this media malarky, we know one thing... we're having an effect and we've got them worried and for the most part all we did last year is plant flowers! Imagaine what they'd say if we really were the people they proclaim we are. Sometimes though its not all bad - there was some pretty positive coverage of Seattle (relatively speaking anyway). Can I just make a plea to everyone to drag as many people down as possible this year, especially middle aged middle class friendly types who are usually put off by media lies so they can see what REALLY goes on? Does anyone know if they'll be a sound system this year? It looks good in the media when we dance!

article from above now moved to new url at : http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/archive/4192204

Aren't all these comments in the various corporate rags about "foreign protesters" causing greater trouble than that experienced last year simply thinly veiled racism? Also all the trouble last year being blamed on anarchists both misses the diversity of the protests and also demonstrates a total misunderstanding of what anarchism actually is. If any other group were treated as badly in the papers as anarchists (which they assume refers to all activists, all of whom are violent thugs of course!) than the papers would be stung for defamation!

Also does anyone else see the similarities between the way the police deal with the grassroots globalisation movement and the way yank cops went after the Black Panther Party (media miss-information, surveillance, targetting and later assasinations)?