2nd Southend Critical Mass ends with 3 arrests

thats right | 14.05.2006 22:00 | Ecology | Free Spaces | Repression

Southend on sea’s second Critical Mass took place last Friday night. After being threatened with arrest (obstruction of the highway) on the first Mass, everyone was left wondering if the 2nd ride would take place.

Video Video of underpass (need quicktime to play) - video/3gpp 301K

Video video of arrests (also needs quicktime) - video/3gpp 1.3M

There was a good turn out of about 35 cyclists under the watchful eye of CCTV, one traffic police car and two community support officers. The ride set off down a slightly different route in order to lose the police car (it would have been rude not to!).
There was a good atmosphere on the ride. Even the car drivers seemed to be enjoying themselves by waving to the cyclists and putting thumbs up. Finally the police decided to ruin the fun. Around 8.00 p.m. after riding for about an hour and a half, plain clothes police appeared and proceeded to arrest 3 cyclists for ‘wilfully obstructing the highway on a non-motorised vehicle’. No warning was given. The 3 riders were held for about 5 hours while some of the riders waited outside for their release. 1 accepted a caution and 2 are due in Southend magistrates court on 25th May at 10.00 a.m.

Come and show some solidarity by coming to the court, and by helping make the next Mass bigger, meet outside WHSmith (town centre) on Friday 9th June at 6 p.m.

thats right

Comments

Hide the following 9 comments

Shame

15.05.2006 06:43

Shame that there was no sound on the arrest film as it would of been good to hear what the police had to say.
The fact that the Met police let the London ride go ahead every month with out nicking riders should be a good defence against the arrests done here.
Hand out leaflets on this months London ride and Im sure the next southend one should be bigger.

swampy

Wish I had been there. Lovely arrest. Lovely compensation claim.

15.05.2006 10:13

Ha. Assuming the people arrested had been moving along with the other cyclists at a speed typical and reasonable for cyclists then the police case will fail and those arrested will be able to sue the cops for unlawful imprisonment and possibly assult as well. Wish I had been there.

jelly

More pictures

15.05.2006 17:15

there are more pictures of the ride here

http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j20/criticalmass2006/

Pennyfarthing

danger of accepting cautions

16.05.2006 09:08

i can understand why someone might accept a caution, but there are problems -
the police offer you one because they don't have enough evidence against you, and it's easier; as long as you "No Comment" in any interview, you'll be alright.
it implicates the other people who don't do the same, and makes it harder for them to win their court cases.

Having said that, fight 'em and sue 'em and use the money to get more publicity or stuff for the Mass!

don't accept

Website? + World Naked Bike Ride!

20.05.2006 21:57

Looks like the guy in body paint might be preparing for the World Naked Bike Ride on 10 June?!

More info:

http://www.worldnakedbikeride.org/

Rides are taking place in Brighton, York and London this year.

Has Critical Mass Southend-On-Sea got a website? It's easy to set one up on Yahoo! Groups, as has been done very successfully with the Brighton CM.

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/criticalmassbrighton/

HTH!

Vive la velorution!

Velorution

Next mass and Court dates

29.05.2006 18:05

The next mass takes place on Friday 9th June at 6pm, meet outside WH Smith on the High street.

Transport from London:

A relaxed 40 mile bike ride to Southend on Sea will leave St Matthias Centre (East London) at 11am.
Address for St Matthias Centre:
Bullivant Street, E14 0ER (Off East India Dock Road, near Blackwall tunnel)

Alternatively you can get on any train leaving Liverpool St or Stratford before 16.30 (a bike ban operates after these times) Last trains are:
London Liverpool St 15.55, 16.10, 16.25
Stratford 16.02, 16.18
(Journey takes just under an hour and costs £6-12 return)

The next court date for those facing highway obstruction charges is Wednesday 21st June
(Ignore the leaflet which wrongly gives a date in April)

See you there.

boris

4th Southend CM 14th July

27.06.2006 13:17

Now the Met have had their butts kicked in court, let's see how Southend Police handle it!!!

18:00 Outside WHSmiths! (I presume)

FatBloke

Keep up the good work!

28.06.2006 23:51

Your CM looked lots of fun - keep up the good work and may u get bigger and bigger! and may the stupid cops get more knowledgable about what your doing! What a bunch of arseholes they are. Good luck with it

Andy (from Brighton CM)
mail e-mail: roweandy@hotmail.com

Southend on sea’s police cant handle it.

02.06.2007 15:41

Looks like Southend on sea’s police aren't up to the job. They will just create more problems for themselves. Try and get someone with a decent vid cam with sound , and maybe seek advice on what to do if it happens again , embarass the police into submission.

Good luck for future rides.

Andy ( neebie manchester masser )

Pic with the baby and a bowl of fruit is cool ;)

Andy ( newbie masser )