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Successful Anarchist Bookfair Marred by Police Attack

London features | 24.10.2005 16:02 | Repression

Thousands of people crammed into the London Voluntary Resource Center in Holloway Road for the 22nd annual Anarchist Bookfair on Saturday 22 October. As usual people came together to buy and trade books, films, t-shirts, stickers, gossip, and new directions for the anarchist movement in Britain and beyond. About three dozen meetings and seminars took place throughout the day, on subjects such as precarious labour conditions, no-borders and migration issues, anarchism in film, housing co-operatives, and the proposed National ID card scheme.

After the bookfair had ended, a small incident took place in a pub nearby. As a result, large numbers of police arrived at the scene pushing and kicking anyone that was in the street, thus escalating the situation. Additional riot police quickly moved in, closing off to southbound traffic for more than 40 minutes, which caused huge disruption in the area. During the fray, an Indymedia photographer taking pictures was knocked to the ground, handcuffed, and arrested. He and the other 6 detainees were finally released on bail on Sunday evening after spending around 24 hours in police cells. [Call for eyewitness statements, video and photographic evidence]

Reports, photos and comments: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4



Eyewitness account of the events:

As the bookfair ended, many people went for a beer at the Coronet pub down the street. At about 6:20, some people began playing music on a small portable sound system inside the pub. After a while, the music went off, then back on, then off again. This not only annoyed the bar management which immediately said that there would be no more beer until the music was shut down, but it also antagonised many people that had attended the bookfair for being a meaningless and selfish action. Eventually, the police arrived outside. Management went round the pub, informing people that they were closing on police advice. At 7:00, about 8 police officers confronted people as they left the pub, arresting a person who had had a little argument with one of them. As the crowd attempted to de-arrest the person, about 10 vans full of riot police, plaincothes and regular uniforms, with some additional cycle cops, arrived at the scene whilst baton-charging down Holloway Rd, beating people as they went.

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Comments

Display the following 43 comments

  1. boys with toys — s
  2. Bored police and pointless punk posturing — Sam Frances
  3. Breaking in anywhere; mislabeling tonight Sam? — .
  4. I saw bits of it — Tony Gosling
  5. Does a bar room brawl really warrant being a feature? — somewhat aghast
  6. fancy that... — LARRY O'HARA
  7. lunatic fringe — keith
  8. Disinformation continues — Larry O'Hara
  9. lunatic fringe — keith
  10. MORE DISINFORMATION REFUTED — LARRY O'HARA
  11. lunatic fringe — keith
  12. The land that time forgot... — Green and blacks...
  13. Bickering boys — Lizzy Glover
  14. MORE LIES COMMENTED ON — LARRY O'HARA
  15. Larry O'Hara's furballs — Tony Gosling
  16. Gosling appears, Keith vanishes shock... — Larry O'Hara
  17. sillier and sillier — keith
  18. MORE LUNATIC FICTION REFUTED — LARRY O'HARA
  19. boring but true — Tony Gosling
  20. OUR CASE PROVEN--AND CONCLUDED — Heidi Svenson
  21. more lunatic rantings — keith
  22. as if accuracy mattered — Tony Gosling
  23. YET MORE STUPID LIES REUTED — HEIDI SVENSON
  24. two incontrovertible facts — heidi svenson
  25. Notes from the Bogeyman - inane or insane? — Tony Gosling
  26. Marred By Police attack? — Two Sides Of The Coin
  27. Notes from the Borderlands Lunatic Asylum — keith
  28. ABUSE UNLIMITED? — Heidi Svenson
  29. MORE FREEDOM FOR SOME THAN OTHERS? — Heidi Svenson
  30. Technical Problem? — Heidi Svenson
  31. ramblings — third eye
  32. Not Quite... — Heidi Svenson
  33. Interesting Silence — Heidi Svenson
  34. A lot of bollocks — christina
  35. More Notes from the Borderlands Asylum — keith
  36. for za record — Tony Gosling
  37. OUR FINAL REPLY: TWO DESPICABLE STRATEGIES CRITIQUED — Heidi Svenson & Larry O'Hara (joint post)
  38. What a relief! — keith
  39. Confused Keith — BiWrE
  40. Divide and conquer! — Jim McCracken
  41. Arsenal Match — Anne Archy
  42. Notes from — georgie
  43. Oh, for a killfilter — Gerry