successful samba caterpillar protest in camden this afternoon

rikki | 09.11.2003 17:57 | Indymedia | London | Sheffield

rhythms of resistance samba band and several pro-palestinian groups scored a victory against caterpillar in a protest in camden this afternoon. the manager of a chain of shoe shops agreed not to stock caterpillar boots anymore after he was made aware of the issues.
caterpillar is the company that also supplies bulldozers and tanks to the israeli army for use against palestinian people.

rhythms of resistance banner

international solidarity movement banner

palestine solidarity campaign banner

rhythms of resistance (joined by sheffield players)

wall banners

more wall banners

das boot

boot with rhythms leaflet

street theatre recreating israeli checkpoint

the bootstore - no longer stocking caterpillar - thanks guys!

the other bootstore - supporting the boycott

more samba rhythms

egoshego - the shop that refused to listen

egoshego's manager complaining to police

egoshego's manager spots the photographer

unprovoked assault

rhythms of resistance take over camden high street

a co-ordinated protest in camden london this afternoon scored a great victory against caterpillar, the company that supplies the israeli army with bulldozers and tanks.

the owner of three 'future designs' shoe shops agreed to send back his caterpillar s tock with a letter to the company ezplaining his reasons for boycotting and refusing to stock their boots.

two of the shops are in camden high street at 212 and 257 - one of them is called bootstore, and the other a few doors down has a blue canopy with no visible name.

the director, shahid butt, and until today's demonstration was unaware of the connection between caterpillar boots and repression in palestine. he thanked the demonstrators and promised to remove all caterpillar stock as well as writing to the company to explain his decision.

if you are passing camden, go and thank these shops for their stance, and hey, maybe even buy some shoes from him :)

the instant co-operation of the bootstore management was in marked contrast to the attitude of the manager at EGOSHEGO across the road, who not only refused to listen to the protestors, but assaulted this photographer who was filming the non-violent, colourful samba action outside the shop.

please boycott EGOSHEGO, as this woman's attack was comp letely unprovoked - i was simply filming her making a complaint to the police - the police incidentally refused to accept my demand to press charges despite them actually witnessing the assault.

rhythms of resistance were joined by members of the sheffie ld samba band in this protest. meanwhile various groups including the palestinian solidarity campaign and the international solidarity movement took over camden high street with many banners in a wall design and street theatre recreating israeli checkpoints where palestinians are treated with inhuman disregard and brutality.

the protest was due to continue to trafalgar square for a ritual tearing down of the wall. today's protest coincided with the fall of the berlin wall thirteen years ago, and also ironically the anniversary of kristalnacht in 1938, when jewish businesses were smashed in germany signalling the denial of jewish participation in public life and marking the climax of a policy of exclusion and ghettoisation.

at a time when many are disillusioned about protest and when millions were ignored over the iraq war, today showed how effective protest can be. please bear this in mind, and come and show your disrespect for george bush when he does his insulting state visit here in ten days time - find out about protests at:

http://www.campaignagainstclimatechange.net/

http://www.resistbush.org.uk/

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/

rikki

Comments

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Unprovoked assault

13.11.2003 23:16

Anybody got the number of the local pigstation?

Maybe we should ring up and ask why they decided not to charge the woman with assault?

It looks like an open-and-shut case.

B.

Boris

Egoshego reply

16.12.2003 14:43

Dear Indymedia
As a director of egoshego I must express my concern about the allegations against our store and staff since the woman in the picture is , and has never been a member of staff in our organization!
The woman in the picture is actually from a competitor of ours 2 doors away called 4 FEET
and it would not suprise me if this MIX UP was done intentionally to give us a bad name !
We centainly feel you should correct this mistake by commencing a further investigation immediately.
If you need further assistance please do not hesitate to write to us at :egoshego , 255 Camden High Street , NW1 7BY London

With best intentions

P.Agren

Totis Pelekanos

assault

03.09.2004 15:08

its actually an assualt against an individuals privacy rights to photograph a subject without their permission. in france they have changed the law to allow private citizens to sue against invasions of privacy. if i were that lady in the picture i would sue for deformation of character and an invasion of privacy.

peter
mail e-mail: petertimmins@yahoo.com

assault..

06.01.2005 21:34

I agree with Peter, there was no need to film the manager talking to the police - except to provoke her. Therefore your "unprovoked assault" claim is completely false, clearly the police knew this, and that's why they wouldnt press charges.

Tyler

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sad

01.12.2006 14:49

You're a bunch of sad wankers

Andy

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sad

01.12.2006 14:51

You're a bunch of sad wankers

Andy

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