Oxford against war!

OSSTW | 21.03.2003 01:31

A couple of thousand people protested against the war in Oxford this evening, with all kinds of action going on, including the temporary blocking of all three main routes into the City Centre. Also featured was heavy police repression against students and others.

Several thousand people protested against the war in various ways in Oxford this evening. Feeder marches from all over the town converged at Carfax Tower at 6 pm, where there was a rally. A samba band whipped the crowd up into a direct action mood, and despite some lack of organisation, three different groups split away to block the city centre. Magdalen Bridge and Foley Bridge were blocked by hundreds of people, while Botley Bridge was taken by only forty or so students (Oxford University is out of termtime unfortunately).

The evening was also marked by heavy police aggression. An obviously worried and overstretched Thames Valley Police Force reacted with haste and force to most blockades, with a blockade of St Clements being met with uneccesary force, pressure pointing and, at times, kicks and punches.

In other news, the Town Hall was totally locked down from 4 pm because of fears of an occupation. Democracy lives in Oxford obviously...

Meet at 12 pm at Carfax tommorow (Friday 21st) for more
protest, or at 6 pm at Carfax if you can't get out of work!

In peace,

OSSTW

OSSTW
e-mail: osstw@lautre.net

Comments

Hide the following 3 comments

police violence

21.03.2003 03:11

As always when they lose control or understanding
of a situation, the police fell back on violence.

One person I spoke to had his arm twisted by police,
though he wasn't even blocking the road. He then swore
at the cop, was hit on the back of the head - and arrested!

Maybe I should send that one into Schnews...

This was undoubtably just one of many similar incidents
in Oxford, there were many rumours floating around but
I thought I'd report what I heard directly.

gtr