summer solstice: remembering the battle of the beanfield
schmoo | 21.06.2006 23:27 | Culture | Free Spaces | Repression
Today is the Summer Solstice, which is the equilivent of Christmas for Pagans. More than 17,000 people were at Stonehenge to celebrate and there was just one arrest. What an improvement on 21 years ago, when nearly 600 people were arrested in the 'Battle of the Beanfield' which took place in Wiltshire near Stonehenge on June 1st 1985.
The battle started when hundreds of riot police attacked a 200 vehicle strong 'Peace Convoy' of 'hippie' buses and trucks, as it advanced through the Wilshire countryside towards Stonehenge which it intended to occupy for the annual 'Stone Henge Festival in defiance of a ban ordered by Maggie Thatcher, the Tory Tyrant....
BEFORE GLASTONBURY WAS ASCOT
Way before 'Glastonbury Festival' was the 'New Ascot' (and before there were more 'Class A' drugs at Ascot than at Glastonbury), there was the 'Stonehenge People's Free Festival' which went on for at least a month - or longer if you had done enough acid.
(And before Stonehenge there was the 'Windsor People's Free Festival' but that got smashed up in 1974 by 600 riot police attacking at dawn.)
Despite endless harrasment, by 1984 the Stonehenge Festival had developed into a massive annual event with dozens of stages attended by over 100,000 people.
Seeing it was getting way more popular than 'Songs of Praise' and possibly even Christmas, the Cromwellian minded Maggie Thatcher had the pagan Summer Solstice festival banned; Stonehenge was surrounded with barbed wire and cops - even the Druids were banned.
SMASH THE CONVOY
It was the 'Dark Ages' of Thatcherism; even the weather was worse when she was in power, and Britain was a virtual police state. In fact the police were virtually the army having been used as such to destroy the miners, who had lost the plot after being appallingly led by Auther Scargill.
Thatcher was inspired by her personal friend President Pinochet of Chile who invented the 'dissappearing dissident' policy which involved throwing people who wanted a National Health Service out of helicopers over the sea.
Thatcher even had the Metropolitan Police doing exercises which involved driving round London in trucks practicing the mass arrest of leftwing dissidents and opening up prison camps in Norfolk!
Having smashed the miners, Thatcher turned to what she saw as the next greatest threat to Toryism and Handbag Economics - the 'hippies'! The order went out from No 10 Frowning Street - "Get the Convoy".
More plus pictures + links:
http://schmoontherun.blogspot.com/2006/06/summer-solstice-remembering-stonehenge.html
BEFORE GLASTONBURY WAS ASCOT
Way before 'Glastonbury Festival' was the 'New Ascot' (and before there were more 'Class A' drugs at Ascot than at Glastonbury), there was the 'Stonehenge People's Free Festival' which went on for at least a month - or longer if you had done enough acid.
(And before Stonehenge there was the 'Windsor People's Free Festival' but that got smashed up in 1974 by 600 riot police attacking at dawn.)
Despite endless harrasment, by 1984 the Stonehenge Festival had developed into a massive annual event with dozens of stages attended by over 100,000 people.
Seeing it was getting way more popular than 'Songs of Praise' and possibly even Christmas, the Cromwellian minded Maggie Thatcher had the pagan Summer Solstice festival banned; Stonehenge was surrounded with barbed wire and cops - even the Druids were banned.
SMASH THE CONVOY
It was the 'Dark Ages' of Thatcherism; even the weather was worse when she was in power, and Britain was a virtual police state. In fact the police were virtually the army having been used as such to destroy the miners, who had lost the plot after being appallingly led by Auther Scargill.
Thatcher was inspired by her personal friend President Pinochet of Chile who invented the 'dissappearing dissident' policy which involved throwing people who wanted a National Health Service out of helicopers over the sea.
Thatcher even had the Metropolitan Police doing exercises which involved driving round London in trucks practicing the mass arrest of leftwing dissidents and opening up prison camps in Norfolk!
Having smashed the miners, Thatcher turned to what she saw as the next greatest threat to Toryism and Handbag Economics - the 'hippies'! The order went out from No 10 Frowning Street - "Get the Convoy".
More plus pictures + links:
http://schmoontherun.blogspot.com/2006/06/summer-solstice-remembering-stonehenge.html
schmoo
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