Aspire Press release
a | 26.11.2002 00:02
A-Spire Press Release – Appeals for Witness Statements
On Sunday 24th November at about 3.15am as many as 100 police officers raided the Aspire Building at Buckingham House, Otley road. The raid was undertaken without any warning and was obviously planned well in advance – as indicated by the number of officers involved. In order to gain entry, police used a battering ram on the doors and indiscriminately used pepper spray and threw CS gas canisters inside a building which contained a large number of party goers.
Fortunately no one was injured in the ensuing panic, thanks mainly to the safety procedures put in place by the organisers. Many witnesses report unprovoked brutal violence by the police. No official reason was given for the raid and no warrant was served.
20 people were arrested for public order offences. 16 were released without charge and the remaining four have been charged with affray. It is our opinion, based on witness statements that the circumstances of these arrests are highly questionable.
The building was previously empty and has been squatted. It is being used as a social centre whilst providing a home for a dozen or so homeless people.
The centre has been operating for two weeks offering a wide range of workshops including women’s self defence, horticulture, theatre skills, puppet making.
It has hosted talks and film shows on environmental issues, human rights and international issues such as Argentina and Palestine.
It also features a vegan café a children’s area, an indoor skate ramp and a performance space.
All of this is run by a non-hierarchical collective of volunteers from the local community and all paid for purely from donations.
The social centre has been very popular with hundreds of people taking part in the various activities on a daily basis – thus confirming the need for this form of self organised “free space” and drawing attention to the amount of empty unused property that could be put to much better use.
The Aspire Collective is planning to leave the building on Tuesday 26th November, as agreed by the building owners.
The party was a culmination of several weeks of hard work by all concerned and featured a degree of organisation and concern for the comfort and safety of those attending that would put most city centre nightclubs to shame. There was no trouble at the event and we had received no complaints about noise or disturbance.
Bearing these facts in mind, we find it very difficult to understand the reasons behind the police action. It needlessly endangered hundreds of people who were committing no crime and causing no disturbance in an illegal act of gross irresponsibility. We should also like to stress that squatting is a civil rather than a criminal matter and the case was already being dealt with by the courts.
We would also like to express our amazement that the police felt it necessary to imply so many officers, some drafted in from other towns, to conduct such a large scale operation with no obvious purpose other than to illicit fear and violence on innocent people.
We suspect that the police will claim they were responding to an incident – however the numbers of officers involved and their level of co-ordination clearly indicates that this was planned well in advance.
info@a-spire.org.uk
On Sunday 24th November at about 3.15am as many as 100 police officers raided the Aspire Building at Buckingham House, Otley road. The raid was undertaken without any warning and was obviously planned well in advance – as indicated by the number of officers involved. In order to gain entry, police used a battering ram on the doors and indiscriminately used pepper spray and threw CS gas canisters inside a building which contained a large number of party goers.
Fortunately no one was injured in the ensuing panic, thanks mainly to the safety procedures put in place by the organisers. Many witnesses report unprovoked brutal violence by the police. No official reason was given for the raid and no warrant was served.
20 people were arrested for public order offences. 16 were released without charge and the remaining four have been charged with affray. It is our opinion, based on witness statements that the circumstances of these arrests are highly questionable.
The building was previously empty and has been squatted. It is being used as a social centre whilst providing a home for a dozen or so homeless people.
The centre has been operating for two weeks offering a wide range of workshops including women’s self defence, horticulture, theatre skills, puppet making.
It has hosted talks and film shows on environmental issues, human rights and international issues such as Argentina and Palestine.
It also features a vegan café a children’s area, an indoor skate ramp and a performance space.
All of this is run by a non-hierarchical collective of volunteers from the local community and all paid for purely from donations.
The social centre has been very popular with hundreds of people taking part in the various activities on a daily basis – thus confirming the need for this form of self organised “free space” and drawing attention to the amount of empty unused property that could be put to much better use.
The Aspire Collective is planning to leave the building on Tuesday 26th November, as agreed by the building owners.
The party was a culmination of several weeks of hard work by all concerned and featured a degree of organisation and concern for the comfort and safety of those attending that would put most city centre nightclubs to shame. There was no trouble at the event and we had received no complaints about noise or disturbance.
Bearing these facts in mind, we find it very difficult to understand the reasons behind the police action. It needlessly endangered hundreds of people who were committing no crime and causing no disturbance in an illegal act of gross irresponsibility. We should also like to stress that squatting is a civil rather than a criminal matter and the case was already being dealt with by the courts.
We would also like to express our amazement that the police felt it necessary to imply so many officers, some drafted in from other towns, to conduct such a large scale operation with no obvious purpose other than to illicit fear and violence on innocent people.
We suspect that the police will claim they were responding to an incident – however the numbers of officers involved and their level of co-ordination clearly indicates that this was planned well in advance.
info@a-spire.org.uk
a
Homepage:
www.a-spire.org.uk
Comments
Hide the following 9 comments
doesn't make sense
26.11.2002 12:43
They raided two days before you'd agreed to leave?
Did they bring cameras?
A warrant?
What kind of warrant was it?
The radical dairy got raided 'for drugs' a few weeks before Mayday (though the only person in possession refused a caution and they didn't push it - money well spent there).
But the @spire raid, apart from having no good reason, seems not even to have an ulterior motive. I'd like to find out what this was about (as well as the senior officer's name on the warrant) before doing a solidarity action.
DT
incurring the wrath of power
26.11.2002 15:28
It seems obvious to me that it was a pre planned attack.
The amount of officers was entirely ridiculous, as are Police claims of violence towards them from the party goers.
I believe the order for such an attack came from the council, or very high up in West Yorkshire Police, in complicity with the authorities.
Why?
Here are my reasons:
A-spire have done this before, and with not an insignificant degree of success.
It is my opinion that the council want this stopped, as its success makes it an embarrassment.
An awful lot of money has been put into the gentrification of Leeds, in the hope people smarten up, and go into town and spend money.
The Local council want to promote Leeds as a "New" "Trendy" "Up and coming" city.
Headingley itself has a lot of relatively up market property, and it would not be unreasonable to assume the council want it to stay that way.
It could be argued a popular squatted venue could threaten this.
Basically due to its success, and possible a certain degree of notoriety, what A-spire organise doesn't fall in line with local authorities plans for the future of the city.
That is why such unwarranted force was used in the illegal attack.
The attack was a warning to a-spire and sympathisers, that what they were doing (regardless of the ethic and moral sensibilities) is not welcome, and to pack it in.
Maybe I'm talking crap, over reacting, or have a bit of an over active imagination.
I do think people who were actually there to experience the level of the over reaction of the hundred or so officers involved, and the questioning looks on some of their faces as they saw what they were stopping, as if they themselves had been duped and hyped up into expecting riot situation, or at least a higher level of disorder than was present, also raises important questions.
I somehow doubt they will be answered though.
random
To be fair...
26.11.2002 15:28
The issue as I see it is not that the police behaved ilegaly, irresponsibly or out of character - the police often behave like this.
The police exist in oposition to everything we try to build, it is not surprising that they attacked us, but it is to our credit that we defended ourselves, looked after each other and got all the people and soundsystems out. Well done everyone!
B
incurring the wrath of power
26.11.2002 15:30
It seems obvious to me that it was a pre planned attack.
The amount of officers was entirely ridiculous, as are Police claims of violence towards them from the party goers.
I believe the order for such an attack came from the council, or very high up in West Yorkshire Police, in complicity with the authorities.
Why?
Here are my reasons:
A-spire have done this before, and with not an insignificant degree of success.
It is my opinion that the council want this stopped, as its success makes it an embarrassment.
An awful lot of money has been put into the gentrification of Leeds, in the hope people smarten up, and go into town and spend money.
The Local council want to promote Leeds as a "New" "Trendy" "Up and coming" city.
Headingley itself has a lot of relatively up market property, and it would not be unreasonable to assume the council want it to stay that way.
It could be argued a popular squatted venue could threaten this.
Basically due to its success, and possible a certain degree of notoriety, what A-spire organise doesn't fall in line with local authorities plans for the future of the city.
That is why such unwarranted force was used in the illegal attack.
The attack was a warning to a-spire and sympathisers, that what they were doing (regardless of the ethic and moral sensibilities) is not welcome, and to pack it in.
Maybe I'm talking crap, over reacting, or have a bit of an over active imagination.
I do think people who were actually there to experience the level of the over reaction of the hundred or so officers involved, and the questioning looks on some of their faces as they saw what they were stopping, as if they themselves had been duped and hyped up into expecting riot situation, or at least a higher level of disorder than was present, also raises important questions.
I somehow doubt they will be answered though.
random
selling university places
27.11.2002 18:43
rudeboy
Over-Conspiratorialising Police Raids?
28.11.2002 15:03
I get the impression that you are over-estimating both the intelligence and the sophisticated far-sighted psycho-political-economic analysis of the local municipal and police authorities in relation to the raid.
Do you really believe that they believe that occasional, short-term social squats threaten the capital accumulation process in Headingley?
There is definitely a political message here: they are warning us not to take over council property! There may have been collusion in an attempt to scare the shit out of the Aspire movement. I personally believe that the political motivations stem from the political activities of those who are connected directly with Aspire, and the alternative left people who support and attend.
If you look at who visits and used the social centre, you will find the rainbow spectrum of the local radical and alternative community. How many of us will have been involved in the anti-war demo in Leeds on the 31st October? How many hunt-sabbers were there? How many people who regularly block the base? etc etc
The police may have been settling old scores, scaring us in order to make us think twice about frequently stepping outside of the law.
But I don't think it is because bar-owners worried about their future profit-rates...none of us surely go to there bland establishments anway!
If Aspire would like any solidarity support, please don't hesitate and post a message here.
SH
Stu H
Well, Stu
29.11.2002 19:14
The latter do have sophisticated analyses, probably more sophisticated than yours and mine and rudeboy's combined. Wherever one looks, from Leeds to Lahore, from Bogata to Bayern, it is apparent that their analyses recommend total exclusion of competition, indeed, of hope as well.
To insist upon their stupidity is to invite bewildered defeat at every turn, and despair. Never, until we admit their competence, will we be motivated to organize to defeat them, and to survive defeat by them.
Bill
told not to bother.......
05.12.2002 15:21
Conspiracies aside I just think they dont like it up 'em!
B
bwtz
this world...
01.01.2003 23:41
I end up feeling like I can't trust any of the stories coming out of these situations, even what comes out of a mate's mouth in the pub (as it doesn't quite tally with your article)...I don't want to see things polarise into people having to take either explicitly radical poses or accepting the pabulum we'd get through conventional reporting.
Argh. Serious police-induced headache, and that's just from reading and hearing about it. I only hope nobody who was there got serious police-induced aches of a more lasting, physical nature.
Besides