ESF registration in chaos
IMCista | 14.10.2004 11:55 | London
At around 12:40 there are unconfirmed reports of one arrest outside Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, where today's official ESF registration is taking place.
Reports indicate that the building has been closed as it was overwhelmed with people. The ESF staff are asking everyone to leave the area. The building will be closed until management sort the problem out.
Police have been in attendance. There was one report of an arrest and one man wrestled to the ground after police found it difficult to get into the building.
Estimates of the number of people at Conway Hall range from 1000 - 5000.
For those who don't want to register, the autonomous spaces do not require registration.
http://www.altspaces.net/ Go to the Camden Centre, Bidborough St, near Kings Cross for the EFCR/Indymedia event, or to the Tottenham Campus of Middlesex University, White Hart lane (near White Hart Lane station).
Police have been in attendance. There was one report of an arrest and one man wrestled to the ground after police found it difficult to get into the building.
Estimates of the number of people at Conway Hall range from 1000 - 5000.
For those who don't want to register, the autonomous spaces do not require registration.
![](/img/extlink.gif)
IMCista
Comments
Hide the following 20 comments
Uncomfirmed reports?
14.10.2004 12:55
..
problems with independent journalist accreditation
14.10.2004 13:08
ab
Not surprised.
14.10.2004 13:24
That's SWP (non)organization for you.
Stick with the anarcho-horizontalists- they really know how to do things right-and after
all the social forums are supposed to be open to all and not just those with £30/£20 to
spare or into heirarchical control freak political systems.
GL
what happened
14.10.2004 13:39
ab
Sorry about 'Unconfirmed Reports' comment
14.10.2004 14:19
You have to get up v. early in the morning to crack one over IMCistas.
Will make a small contribution to your funds at ther end of the month for my little sin.
..
Dont Give Them Credit
14.10.2004 14:33
h
Retraction and Speculation
14.10.2004 15:04
It could be concluded from a reading of ab's report that the SWP - who as predicted have set up shop to sell their paper instead of helping with registration - directly caused the ruck outside the ESF registration centre at Conway Hall by blocking the doors and stopping punters getting to the inadequate registraion facilities.
Of course, this is unconfirmed.
All is forgiven if SWP floored a few coppers and got banged up. They become ESF heros. Pics eagerly anticipated.
h
Conway closed?
14.10.2004 15:13
Krop
Any more?
14.10.2004 15:19
Saffy
Hippy's are very organised
14.10.2004 17:43
Yeh, anymore news?
Claire
Homepage:
http://www.hipforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=160
Save your money, this is FREE
14.10.2004 18:28
try this instead it'll be much more fun, educational and effective and you wont get hassled into buying the latest reformist papers and hassled to join the SWP/Respect Unilateral con
Beyond ESF will be held at Middlesex University, Tottenham Campus, White Hart Lane (close to White Hart Lane train station - 2 stops from Seven Sisters station, and on the W3 bus route from Alexandra Palace).
(A)
.
14.10.2004 19:21
I'd love to see the anarchists trying to organise an event this big!
As for Tory Boy's comments about "socialist planning" (not that the ESF is 'socialist'), today's chaos doesn't prove anything other than that people who haven't organised something this big before don't get it right first time.
Oh yeah and one more (random) thing. Go to South Korea if you want to see how ridiculously DISORANISED CAPITALISM can be.
.
I dont have any politics
14.10.2004 19:53
Thats all I do now, and all I'll ever do.
Thank goodness I dont actuallt have to do anything to fight capitalism, as long as I can blame the SWP
Continued post 93
Everyone on this thread
Hippy's may be organised but they can't use apostrophe's
14.10.2004 20:23
Sim1
Ha!
14.10.2004 22:16
Digsy
Anarchists events ARE well-organised
14.10.2004 22:52
The two workshops I saw were very interesting too, one on problems travellers face and one on free transport.
Badriya
e-mail:
badriya@dsl.pipex.com
:
15.10.2004 00:08
Somehow I think not.
Don't get me wrong I totally support what the anarchists are doing and will be dividing my time equally between the "official" ESF and the Beyond ESF stuff. BUT be realistic - it's not going to attract nearly as many people so why pretend it will?
And let's stop all this bollox about "our event's better than yours". Fucking GROW UP.
(Writing as an individual on behalf of myself)
:
Troll comments hidden
15.10.2004 11:25
IMC volunteer
Eye-Witness
18.10.2004 12:04
Here is what actually happened.
Eveything was fine. People were lining up and getting processed. The hall was getting more and more full. The organisers started to regulate the number of people being let into the Hall. Nothing controversial. Entirely sensible. Nobody minded. No problem.
Then the cops arrived.
They approached the Socialist Party (SP) stall (in plain clothes) and asked it be removed. The SP sort of stood their ground but slowly started to comply. A bit piss poor but I guess not too suprising when you have half a dozen ape size cops standing over you threatening arrest.
Martin Smith from the SWP went across to argue with the cops that the SP should be allowed to stay and that they were not causing any problem. The SP removed their stall and then the cops went for the SWP stall. The SWP stood their ground and refused to removed their stall. The cops went bezerk, smashed all the tables and belted about a dozen people over the head. Reinforcemetns came from everywhere and soon there were about 50 pigs sorrounded by about 500 chanting people. Martin Smith was dragged off to a pig mobile and taken away.
Two quick points.
1. The SP melted away into notHing as soon as the rumble started. So much for solidarity.
2. The cops caused the problem. There was no problem before they arrived and none after they left. The registration process was basically smooth and efficient. I was there from dawn until after dark.
As for the usual fairy tales about SWP doing this or that please
Jake20
inside hall
13.11.2004 18:39
Seemed that the management had gone off on one cos there were so many people in the building. They seemed to have locked the doors and declared no one was entering the building till they’d had a meeting, one minute suggesting they’d stop all registrations for the day then saying they’d come out with a decision in an hour ?!?
In the meantime, while bitching about how little coverage their own events had got in the esf program, Conway hall demanded that all esf posters be taken down and all volunteers turn their purple tshirts inside out so esf logo didn’t detract from their own program of shiatsu and muesli crunching workshops ?!?
Hugely embarrassing to experience, but out front most people seemed relaxed despite having to stand out in the shitty weather with all their luggage having trekked across London and god knows where else.
Didn’t see what happened in the square, heard one of the Conway management had to be taken away by police for going a bit mental, which wouldn’t have surprised me having heard them carping on about hoards of dangerous anarchists about to descend on them.
Even being there, I wouldn’t claim to have got the right end of the stick on all this. However, I do think it was a bit daft trying to process however many thousand people in some piddly assed community hall run by a bunch of grey haired old farts playing ‘my revolutionary Russian’s better than yours’ (first impressions, Conway Hall !)
Police were usual bunch of jumped up nobheads too!
rhedize
e-mail:
joshstyx@yahoo.com