Oxford Street must be packed with CCTV cameras that would have picked up the attack !!! They can't let the police get away with this one - surely the legal right exists to get hold of the footage so they can sue the police for assault...

yeah you can get all cctv footage as well as all data stored on you on computer from corporations and the police, you have to apply through the data protection act and it cost £10, for more info:

 http://www.dataprotection.gov.uk/

Six wombles are due in court next Wednesday - I know at least one is being charged with assualting a police officer.
Hope the cctv gets the cops nicked (probably wishful thinking though)

Well, obviously it's shit when your mates get beaten up or anyone else for that matter, especially by the police. But are you surprised. I thought that's what the wombles were all about, confronting the police. Now I don't necessarily think that that is a bad idea but you are going to get beaten up and to think otherwise is naive. I also thought the 'wombles' were trying to think of ways to get the upper hand in confrontational situations. Nopw if they can't do that in a small street scuffle what hope have you got against tooled up police or soldiers. Anyway, what were you up to on Oxford st? I'm still not sure what dressing up in white overalls is going to achieve? Will it help people to overcome their deep-seated fear of authority or will it ensure that people carry on hoping someone else (the white overalls?) is going to sort it out for them? Good luck but don't be surprised if you end up spending more time in nick than talking to people about why you believe what you do and confronting the real causes of this whole situation - fear of authority.

What were all you all WOMBLES about to get up to on Oxford Street?

Trick or Treating in NikeTown?

"Now if they can't do that in a small street scuffle what hope have you got against tooled up police or soldiers"

For your information, the wombles are not an army,
we are people. We are also autonomous to think and act for ourselves. I do not understand what your comments have to do with this incident. Some people
decided to dress up with halloween masks and go to the west-end. Like hundreds of other people. There
was no political statement to make. It was a bit of
fun, no one expected to be confronted with a beating
or an arrest just for walking down a road. Unless you
think that people bring it on to themselves.

"Anyway, what were you up to on Oxford st?"

Who you a cop or sumthing?

"I'm still not sure what dressing up in white overalls is going to achieve? Will it help people to overcome their deep-seated fear of authority or will it ensure that people carry on hoping someone else (the white overalls?"

It seems from your comment that YOU expected us to
do 'something'. We never claim to be anything but
a collective of people who are experimenting with
different ideas, concepts, tactics, language...etc. It is
the media and armchair activists who impose this
position that the 'wombles' will do this.

"Good luck but don't be surprised if you end up spending more time in nick than talking to people about why you believe what you do and confronting the real causes of this whole situation - fear of authority"

One aspect of the wombles is the street tactic which undermines the fear of authority in the form of a baton.
On all our actions that we have either supported or
called there is always the expression this isn't about one particular 'group' doing something for you it's
about YOU doing it for yourself. After the media frenzy
before and after Mayday we were seen by alot of
the movement as being some sort of heros that can
save the day. This is definetely not true if you look at
the failed attempt at setting up a 'No borders' camp
outside Campsfield or the action against the DSEI
arms fair. Perhaps you should stop looking at the media for your reality on events.

One last point, how do YOU know that we don't go and
talk to people. It's hardly headline news.

W@MBLES

The fact remains, W@ that we are in a time of tightening internal repression, and people in white overalls remain easy to pick off. There's no rational justification for it and no reason why anybody shouldn't womble if they want to.You get the feeling that the UK is going to get a sharp jolt very soon - just to justify all this kind of thing. In the end the police will turn against men in sharp suits if they seem to be antagonistic to the state agenda.
No lack of sympathy - Free the Womble 7

First they came for the Communists
And I didn't speak up
Because I wasn't a Communist

Then they came for the Jews
And I didn't speak up
Because I wasn't a Jew

Then they came for the Catholics
And I didn't speak up
Because I was a Protestant

Then they came for me
And by that time
There was no one left to speak up for me.

Martin Niemoller 1945

I really want to see the police who did this involved in some kind of legal recourse. Please keep this area updated with CCTV footage etc and postr any requests for helkp that people need - I can't do much but I'll help how I can.

Cheers. Solidarity

it does not matter what the wombles were up to/or about to get up to (if anything) when they were jumped by the police. the fact remains that they were jumped by the police and if they were, as they say they were, simply walking down Oxford street than it is the police who need to learn a bit of respect and is up to us as active members of society to ensure that the message gets home - that they are our servants and not the other way around. it is we who have the authority and those who have usurped it are right to fear us. unfortunately the majority of people seem resinged to the status quo while those of us who are empowered enough to do something about it are seen as seperate in some way from the rest of society. this is dangerous, if we allow oursleves to be seen as other we become an easy target and incidents like this will go unpunished. we are not other, we are the same, we are part of wider society and wider society is part of us. it is only by working as part of the wider society, within our communities that we can hope to bring about social change. maybe not through taking power structures head on but subtely in ways which allow a wide range of people to be involved. This is not to knock the role of the WOMBLES, they are totally valid in highlighting the major fuck ups in the present system. power to you. but be aware of the dangers of becoming an other in such a blatant way. many people may see a group of people dressed in white overalls wearing masks as a bunch of threatening yobs out to smash stuff up - even if the intentions could not be further from the truth.

This is another appalling example of state repression. The idea of taking ation and visual protest against the repression of the WOMBLES came up months ago and as far as I know nothing has yet been organised. This incident makes it all the more urgent. First of all there must be a proper protest during any court appearances...can we have the details please and let's start mobilising. What a shame that a 'phone tree' was not already set up ready for this kind of event...that was a tactic we developed to defend Delroy Lindo and it was very effective. Everyone has a list of 5-10 people to call when they recieve news about something like this - as well as calling the pig station to demand info like what the charges are and if the doctor has been called, and when people will be released etc. Sounds like there was an improptu picket which is really important...

Millions of people in Britain are persecuted for the way they look (race/ethnicity) dress (class) or where they live...there's a lot of people out there in the community who would respond to a rallying call against state discriminatory brutality. There is a strong case for uniting with the recently 'proscribed terrorist' organisations and their supporters in Britain. Did you know that the several of the Turkish activists who occupied the pod in the Millennium Wheel at the end of last year in protest against the Turkish state murder of political prisoners have been imprisoned here in Britain. We should be working together!!

Solidarity and see you in the streets!
Helen.