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SOCPA - film of anti-trident day of protest (2 of 2 - quicktime mp4 version)

rikki | 19.03.2007 01:21 | SOCPA | Anti-militarism | Repression | London

twelve minute film shows celebs' press-call in the morning, the lock-on and parliament square blockade of the afternoon, and the cyclists' 'fish on bicycle' demo in the evening, followed by police harassment as the 'official' cnd protest finishes

a mixture of 'authorised' and 'unauthorised' demos made up 14th march, the day of the parliament vote about trident missles (even though we all know the facilities are already being built at aldermarston so the vote is a sham).

as the celebs (including anita roddick, vivienne westwood, annie lennox and bianca jagger) posed for press outside parliament, a plucky group of nine activists staged a blockade by locking-on to heavy concrete props, stopping traffic in parliament square. it took police several hours to finally free the activists. they were all charged with 'obstruction of the highway', and 'unauthorised demonstration', and will appear in court on the 29th march.

later on, cnd held a rally in the square, 'authorised' under sopca from 6pm to 8pm. cyclists passing through dressed as fish were violently stopped on the public road by police and dragged into the square. despite socpa warnings, some cyclists continued their protest without arrest, and this was the police theme of the evening - violence and intimidation (using socpa as the reason) to clear people from the square, but no actual arrests. one female child was held by throat pressure points and an older man was thrown to the ground and suffered a suspected back injury. modern socpa policing!

the film is just over twelve minutes long and is also available in wmv format posted previously
recommended viewer 'vlc', widely available, is free for both mac and pc

original report and pics from the lock-on at  http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/03/365111.html

rikki
- e-mail: rikkiindymedia@googlemail.com