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Plod Can't Out-Punk Faslane Picnic

CH | 07.05.2008 17:43 | Anti-militarism | Free Spaces

Faslane Peace Camp hosted a Punx Picnic on the West Coast of Scotland at the weekend. Despite obstructive behaviour from the MoD and the real police, the event was a success.

Police prevented car-park access and forced vans to park on the verge
Police prevented car-park access and forced vans to park on the verge


Bands and fans travelled to Faslane from as far away as Brighton & South Wales for the 3-day festival of dissent. As well as the music, workshops were held on political and other topics. A Peace Camp resident estimated that 200 people had visited the site at different times over the weekend, enjoying music from bands like Inner Terrestrials and Killm@Boy.

The revelry was threatened at one point by the authorities' refusal to allow access to the area designated for parking of vans. They forced people to park up on the grass verge outside, causing unnecessary disruption and a safety risk. On arrival, one car sank into the mud and was trapped half in the road for around 20 minutes. This potentially serious traffic hazard created by the authorities was removed by Picnic organisers, a towrope and a helpful taxi driver. Shortly afterwards one of the police forces offered the use of an unsuitable space a some distance away from Camp,fenced in and covered in CCTV cameras. Strathclyde Police blamed the MoD, the MoD blamed the Navy and folk went about solving the problem the Police created for them.

Other unhelpful policing incidents took place that caused attendees to speculate that the Police were attempting to provoke a confrontation with revellers. The punks, no strangers to obnoxious behaviour, didn't oblige. At one point, MoD Police (who have extremely limited powers and exhibit acute awareness of their inadequacy) grabbed a man from behind while he was urinating in the woods behind camp, some distance from public view. They claimed to be "disgusted" that he was "deliberately" peeing near them and that he would be arrested if he went back on site. No further action was taken by the Police but their discomfort with male genitalia caused some amusement.

Around midnight on Saturday night tensions rose slightly as 2 huge vans were parked opposite site, but these were claimed to be merely for removing police from the scene.

Away they went and on went the party.

CH
- Homepage: http://scotland.indymedia.org/node/10263