Police State
Samuel P Jackboot | 02.05.2003 13:07
The Met put on a display of force in Trafalgar Square yesterday (may 1st), severely wounding several unarmed demonstrators. We were dancing to a sound system set up at the corner of the Strand and Trafalgar Square when the police began announcing that everyone had to leave by 7:05pm. A group of demonstrators and a samba band attempted to move away up the Strand at approximately 6:45, but we were met by a line of police who tried to stop people leaving. A large number of people then attempted to run down Craven Street but were chased down and beaten with riot batons. The rest continued to try and move off up the Strand but police reinforcements began pushing the crowd back towards the Square. A young man was grabbed by anofficer an punched in the face. Another line of police were pushing more people away from the square and the two groups met at the corner of the Strand. We were held here by the police and more officers arrived to contain the crowd. Tis was at about ten to seven. Some people told the police that we had been told to leave by five past seven, not quarter to, and they were told "You should have left earlier then.". Several people were savagely beaten, including women. An old Sikh man disappeared under a solid mass of police, who kicked him and laid into him with truncheons. Several people attempted to aid him and they too were assaulted by the cops. A man who asked to be allowed to leave was called a "black cunt" by a policeman. I managed to escape the growing police cordon and got away up the Strand. Dozens of police vans were disgorging armoured riot police, who moved into position to protect corporate buildings. Police with attack dogs were closing off the side streets. Over a hundred officers clad in black riot gear and helmets ran towards the crowd. The crowd was then contained within a ring of these armoured thugs, and a line of "normal" police armed with truncheons was formed about 100 yards further up the Strand to prevent bystanders from approaching the crowd. I repeatedly requested information from various police officers and was told either "No comment", "I don't know" or "Fuck off". Several people who got too close to the line of police were violently thrown away. Allthe while, more vans were arriving and riot squads were running towards Trafalgar Square. I walked around to Northumberland Avenue where over a hundred police vans were parked. I was prevented from entering the Square from the end of Northumberland Avenue by an armoured policeman who yelled "You've had your final warning now FUCK OFF!" before hitting me with his Plexiglass sheild. I eventually got back to the Strand where things were pretty much as they had been when I left. The crowd was invisible behind the ring of black uniformed riot cops and most of them had fallen silent. I asked an officer what the point of this huge display of force was and he said "Maybe you'll think twice before you demonstrate against the Government again" before shoving me away. Is this democracy? After several hours of police coming and going, and a crowd of interested onlookers asking questions, reports filtered through of people being released. I met up with my friends who had been trapped in the circle of armoured police who told me that several people had been beaten up and then arrested, and also that everyone had been photographed and their name and address taken as they were released from Trafalgar Square.
All in all a successful day for brutality and repression and another starck reminder that freedom in this country only extends to those who don't ask questions or stand up for their beliefs.
All in all a successful day for brutality and repression and another starck reminder that freedom in this country only extends to those who don't ask questions or stand up for their beliefs.
Samuel P Jackboot
Comments
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Policing
02.05.2003 13:33
Meanwhile the march that got away danced around half of central london for a couple of hours taking over the streets with music and cheering, pushing past a few half hearted attempts to block its path, running down streets at other times leaving the police behind. However police following grew in numbers and got heavier at the strand as the march arrived there at around 4pm
The finale at Trafalger square was way over the top sending in riot police to deal with people who had just been dancing and chilling out. At one stage when the area had become fully militarised the police moved with 'normal' yellow cops to clear the whole square pretty quickly without warning pushing people back and making arrests - these were people who had previously been told it was ok to be in the square. As they were pushed out away from seeing anything of the surrounded group at the strand edge of the square, riot police ran in from two sides and chased two groups up different streets, where I heard several peolple were beaten.
While there in the square and the strand I asked several 'normal' yellow police if they'd heard of anything getting trashed or any serious trouble during the afternoon. They said nothing like that had happened and that it had been a pretty good day. When I asked then if the scores of riot vans, hundreds of riot police and the actions being taken were not just a little over the top then, they declined to comment.
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more violence
02.05.2003 14:00
So I finally managed to stand up despite being pushed & kicked and tried to leave the area, I walked past a normal copper who shouted something like "leave the area now" (which I was quite obviously doing) before pinning me up against some railings and said something along the lines of "I'm invoking section 14 blah blah if you don't leave the area you will be arrested right you haven't left the area you're nicked now fuck off" in one breath and let me leave. I realy didn't get that.
bruised arse, legs & arm grazed elbows (manage to protect me head, thankfully), lesson learnt... cops realy don't like black masked protestors, and next time I'll wear some damn padding
bogzla
Trafalgar square web stream stills
02.05.2003 14:45
Trafalgar square web stream stills
Observer
Trafalgar square web stream stills
02.05.2003 14:45
Trafalgar square web stream stills
Observer
Trafalgar square web stream stills
02.05.2003 14:45
Trafalgar square web stream stills
Observer
disperse and regroup?
02.05.2003 14:46
arm and shin pads (no padding to rear of shins), padded jock straps over their trousers (really regret not having a camera).
The thing I always wonder is about our response to the the police tactic of surround and hold, which they have been using (at least) since 'Stop the city'. I know they do it, and I'm _very_ careful not to get trapped inside their lines (narrow sqeaks at Euston and Oxford circus).
Is it not beyond our wits to disperse and regroup elsewhere?(away from their attention for a while)
heradatus
e-mail: nofear
pulp and pis off
02.05.2003 22:50
nodboss
STOP DRINKING AND ORGANIZE
03.05.2003 00:44
Activist
A Note From the Other Side...
03.05.2003 01:01
Friend in Cali
Force against women
03.05.2003 13:02
Noticed