This came in by phone from somebody at Lochnagar Street where the police were preventing the space hijackers tank from moving.

Space Hijackers phone in to report the progress of tank number TWO while their decoy tank is held by police.

Space Hijackers party with tank and sound system as they prepare to auction their tank to the highest bidder.

Tank girl promotes the auction that will run from 4pm, selling the tank to the highest bidder.

Auction ended at 4.30 after offers of first born children, human organs and property but eventually went for just $50 as the arms dealers consider cold hard cash to be worth more than human life.

The Critical Mass ride was actually 50 cyclists and at the start at the Bank there were more than 40 police present.

The Metro newspaper website reported that:

"two people were detained after throwing paint around at Custom House DLR station, the nearest stop to the conference. The 59-year-old woman and 40-year-old man, both from Dalston in east London, were arrested for criminal damage, police said."

The exhibition was covered by the Financial Times and included doubts about its future. The Times reported arrests and included comments about the massive costs of policing and the fact that Reed Elsevier is going to sell it off. The Independent mentioned the negative publicity attached to the Fair. The Guardian reported that two exhibitors, selling equipment which can be used for torture, were thrown out of the exhibition and was fairly supportive of the demonstrators. Even the Daily Mail homed in on Liberty's High Court application on Arms Fair arrests, which challenges the misuse by police of the Terrorism Act.

All in all not a bad result for the protesters this time around.

Yesterday morning, people ran into the car park of the Excel Centre where delegates were making their way to buy weapons. Police pounced on the protesters, arresting 15 people. One woman sustained minor injuries and was taken to hospital before being arrested and put in custody. Some of the 15 were released early on without being charged, others were kept in custody all day. They began releasing people at 6pm last night, all were charged with aggravated trespass. They also have bail conditions which state they cannot go to Newham or anywhere near the area. They will have to appear in court soon, and may request public support. Keep an eye out on Indymedia!

a reminder about the money-makers

 http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_hilary/2007/09/making_a_killing_out_of_war.html

The manner in which the police reacted at the demonstration was absolutely appalling. Although it is common knowledge that a person is innocent until proven guilty in this country, the approach taken by the public servants was quite the opposite. As a social / political scientist, I am currently constructing a report that I will submit to Ken Livingston. It is difficult to establish whether he will receive it and if so how he will react to it, but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt.

Police presence was overkill and the level of victimisation ridiculous. I cannot see the logic behind their unprofessional approach, as this was a legitimate demonstration. Police blocked demonstrators from gaining access to the public bridge between the two sites, which is situated quite a distance away from Custom House. This caused the protest area to be unnecessarily spread out to the main roads. These roads are used by the public to conduct their daily affairs, but due to the exaggerated police activities they were disrupted. Police vehicles could be seen blocking traffic lanes, doing u-turns, breaking spontaneously and generally driving in a very unsafe manner. They also disrupted the peace in the local neighbourhood with the excessive use of sirens and by roaring their vehicles up and down the streets. The police were with no doubt the biggest contribution to noise pollution. Furthermore the majority of them used negative body language and acted like brutes to say the least.

As a South African, I have to point out that the entire approach that was taken by the police at the Demonstration, reminds me of that of the Police State during the Apartheid Era

Don B.

Please see the following pictures below of one of the police photographers.

This particular member of the police can be singled out as being one of the worst behaved at the legitimate DSEI Demonstration on 11/09/2007. He could be seen acting like an absolute maniac, repeatedly filming and photographing demonstrators. This police photographer continually entered the legitimate demonstration area and the Tank in an in intimidating manner. When questioned why he was behaving in such a brutal way he often got aggressive and then hid behind numbers of police officers. His actions were totally out of context to a peaceful event, as he was reacting as if it was a war zone. He could be seen attempting to instigate violence amongst both demonstrators and police officers on a number of occasions. He made physical contact with demonstrators and repeatedly invaded their personal space with his media equipment. I experienced this as he continually held his media equipment 10cm – 15cm from my face. I could not believe the amount of hatred in his eyes. His body language was incredibly aggressive and he delivered an arrogant attitude. His intensity and repeated use of media equipment is totally illogical. The irony is that if any of the demonstrators wanted to remain anonymous, they would not have participated in the Protest Action

I went down to New Scotland Yard on 12/09/2007, to lay a complaint against this police photographer. I was unable to make contact with any members of the Complaints Department, but was advised how to go about making a formal complaint. My intentions are to initiate legal action against him for the uncivilised manner in which he behaved and I have contacted a solicitor group.

Please se the following attachment of PC 1545

Once all the chauffeured Arms Dealers had concluded their business and left the EXCEL Centre, there was a general consensus by the Demonstrators to end the Protest Action for the day. Most of us moved in small groups towards Canning Town bus station, under police escort. This caused a major disruption to the flow of traffic on this busy main road. The police seemed obsessed with the Black / Red and Anarchist Flags that the group I was in were holding. Police vehicles continually drove up and down the main road, doing regular u-turns, packed with police officers who could not stop staring at us in an intimidating manner. Then one of the police vehicles stopped next to us, along the main road. Enter PC 1545.

PC 1545 approached, the rest of the police officers climbed out their vehicle and surrounded our group of Protesters. He then informed me that they had reason to believe that I was carrying harmful weapons. Weapons, at a Disarm DSEI Demonstration, I did my utmost best to keep a straight face as being searched is a serious matter. Logic suddenly set in and it became very obvious that if I did not co-operate with the police, the whole group were going to get thrown into police vehicles and taken to who knows where for interrogation. As it was, people in our group were already getting frustrated and the rest of the police were starting to close in. I made a quick decision to co-operate before the situation got any worse, but we were not going home empty handed.

I negotiated a deal with PC1545, in return for co-operating and providing what ever information that he wanted, I wanted a photograph of him, a mug shot. If providing all my personal details was ever going to come back and bite me in the butt, he is the witness that I had no weapons and co-operated with him … otherwise why would he let me take the photograph? After all, what is the point of Freedom of Speech, if there is no Freedom after Speech? He looked around, there was a moment of silence … the ball was in his court. He agreed and once I had provided him with all the information he wanted, signed the Search Docket and answered a number of questions relating to the flags, he let me take the photograph that is attached. He even said that I was ‘a nice guy’.

I have an eye condition that requires me to use spectacles with magnifying lenses, so it was only when I got home that I was able to read what PC 1545 had written. At first I could not believe what I was reading, but after the unprofessional way in which most of the police behaved throughout the day, I guess it’s not surprising. He had written that I was ‘very evasive when spoken to’ and that I ‘tried to conceal …’ followed by two words that various people cannot make out. On top of that, he wrote that I was seen in the company of a group of males, when there were also woman in the group, throughout the day. Furthermore, he wrote that I was wearing black boots, when in actual fact I was wearing a pair of converse trainers.

I urge anyone in the future, at any Demonstrations and Camps, to be very alert if ever searched by the police. If you are in a position where you decide to co-operate to keep the Peace, make sure to read what you are signing. Everything happens so quickly in these situations, but when the police manage to falsify this kind of evidence, it can only do harm to the future of Protest Actions. The police can use this kind of falsified information to distort the perspectives of the Politicians and the Public in general. My intentions are to initiate legal action against him for falsifying the Search Docket and I have contacted a solicitor group. I am submitting a complaint about this incident to New Scotland Yard’s Complaints Department and the IPCC. It is a separate complaint to the one about SCD43, who has been now identified as Neil Sinclair (see ‘SCD43 – Brute of the Day at DSEI Demonstration 11/09/2007’ above). Both these complaints are included in the report that I am completing and sending to Ken Livingstone (see ‘Police Victimisation at the DSEI Demonstration 11/09/2077’ above)