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why are climate camp legal team refusing to help people arrested at bank?

riot girrrl | 12.04.2009 09:00

I sent a statement to the legal team at climate camp cos I was nicked for violent disorder. They told me that they couldn't help because I was at bank, not Bishopsgate.

Come on, aren't we all mean't to be on the same side? Climate camp legal team seem happy enough to get info about the guy who died, so why won't they help other people like me who've been set up by the cops?

riot girrrl

Additions

Contact LDMG

12.04.2009 09:13

You should contact LDMG at:

 ldmgmail@yahoo.co.uk
or by post:
Legal Defence and Monitoring Group
BM Box HAVEN,
London, WC1N 3XX

They are co-ordinating alot of the support for those arrested and are mostly anarchists.

a


Climate camp and LDMG agreed to split it this way

12.04.2009 14:52

heya,
as was mentioned in the climate camp update, climate camp and LDMG had a meeting and agreed to split things this way, just so each could concentrate on specific events. I.e. LDMG would help with the bank protest, and climate camp legal would help with climate camp... makes sense!
contact ldmg at  ldmgmail@yahoo.co.uk, and contact climate camp legal via  legal@climatecamp.org.uk

punter


Bust card number

12.04.2009 22:16

Hey
The bust number on the LDMG bust cards was 07659 111192, for a solicitors called Hodge Jones & Allen. The LDMG contact details have been given above.

There was a split between the work of LDMG and the Climate Camp legal people, much of this was geographical, with one covering the anti-bank actions and the other the climate camp. From experience though there is another split, in that LDMG will give uncritical support to any defendant (ie regardless of the charge), whereas its suggested that with the CC people this aint always the case…

In practice, on the day, at least during the afternoon, quite a number of CC legal observers came down to the anti-bank action as the situation at the CC was clearly calm, although that obviously changed after night fell. Indeed at around 4pm I approached 3 CC Legal observers standing outside the BofE, about 30 metres from the front line near the trashed RBS, and one of them introduced himself as a member of parliament (I forget the name…).

LDMG had 4 or 5 teams of 2/3 people on the anti-bank protests, with several thousand bust cards. However they cant be everywhere at once, especially with the multiple cop lines all over the place – hence the need for people to sort themselves out as a poster above has pointed out. The legal support organisations also need more people to get trained up so they can help on the day.

Remember too that legal observing is hard work – there’s no down time, no drinking, no dancing, the cops give you no preferential treatment at all, indeed by now they know whose side LDMG are on, even if some protesters don’t seem to get it. LDMG usually stands down its observers when darkness falls, because the work becomes impossible in the dark. The CC people did try and carry on til later at the CC.

Anyway, if you got nicked, get advice and support from the info given on these posts and on the London IMC site. Failing that then at least ask around your contacts for details of a sympathetic firm of solicitors. And if you got injured/want to sue, then you should get/have got witness details, medical reports, fotos etc.
Good luck, and don’t give up.

observation


LDMG / arrests / witnesses / suing the cops

13.04.2009 01:18

LDMG bustcard on the wall at Earl Street convergence centre
LDMG bustcard on the wall at Earl Street convergence centre

> It might help if the LDMG clearly showed how people can contact them
> and how they plan take to things forward.

From the website:

----------------------------------
G20 Follow-up - Who to contact

If you were arrested at the G20 please contact us by email.
If you witnessed an arrest at the G20 please contact us by email.
If you were attacked or assaulted by the cops and want to bring an action against the police then we suggest that you contact Bhatt Murphy  http://www.bhattmurphy.co.uk/ solicitors, as they have a lot of experience and have had good results in the past.

----------------------------------
G20 Defendants' Meeting
Tuesday April 7th
7pm

Freedom Bookshop
Angel Alley (right next to KFC)
84b Whitechapel High street
London E1 7QX

We will be holding a meeting for all those arrested during the G20 demonstrations.

The point of the meeting is to gather and share information, take people through the legal process and hopefully reassure them about the situation they are facing. If you were arrested please bring any and all documents concerning your arrest and detention. If you know anyone who was arrested please inform them of the meeting.

This is for those arrested only, anybody who witnessed someone being arrested (even if you don't know who they are) please write a detailed account on the incident as soon as possible and forward it to LDMG via email:  ldmgmail@yahoo.co.uk
or by post:
Legal Defence and Monitoring Group
BM Box HAVEN,
London, WC1N 3XX

All information will be treated in the strictest of confidence.
----------------------------------

LDMG
mail e-mail: ldmgmail@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.ldmg.org.uk/


Comments

Hide the following 7 comments

this is movement wide!

12.04.2009 11:42

as far as I understand it the Climate Camp legal team was/is tiny for this event and the LDMG didn't provide a contact number or bust cards.

I can see that it seems hard that the CC appear to not be covering stuff off their patch but at least they are providing some support.

It might help if the LDMG clearly showed how people can contact them and how they plan take to things forward.

Has the comrade who was charged with violent disorder talked to either of the solicitors firms which were being recommended on the day?

The lack of legal back up is a movement wide failure not just cc's.

The fact that the climate camp did provide medical,legal,trauma and food support for the people involved in their thing should be seen as a complement to their organisation ,

and should lead the wider anarchist movement to ask why we didn't provide these things for everyone not accuse the one group who did actually have a plan, of doing something wrong by not looking after people who were doing something else.

Lets face it kettling ourselves at bank was a fucking stupid idea and clearly what the cops wanted. If we are to start taking the struggle back to the streets then we need to be thinking strategically about how we do that and how we support the inevitable casualties.


@rchie


ldmg

12.04.2009 12:49

"LDMG didn't provide a contact number or bust cards"

they did as I was handing them out and so to were others. There were also around 6 or more teams of two at Bank, and also a legal defense meeting on Tuesday at Freedom.

a


I demand more!!!

12.04.2009 13:30

Hey a
I'm not wanting to knock the great work you and others were doing, observing with LDMG.

I just wish their had been more of everything.

So was there a contact number/ (arrestee support) for LDMG.... I must say I missed it.
If you are who I think you are then our paths crossed during the day and you didn't give me no arrest support line.

I was also saying to everyone don't knock the CC legal team for doing their shit their way. I think some more cooperation between the legal teams and a clearer demarcation of roles would have helped everyone including the original poster of this story.

My comment was also about the lack of other types of support and a shit basic plan which certainly ain't your fault.

On a related note what happened to the people charged with stuff related to RBS getting smashed? anyone know? I got the impression some of them were without the back up of groups/experience etc.

@rchie


having your cake & eating it

12.04.2009 18:04

Don't know if this applies to you, but some of those doing the more hard-core action stuff just weren't interested in having anything to do with CC. That's fine, everyone does what they think is right.
The CC legal team were fully stretched from what i saw. If you're really anarchists then you'll stop yer moaning and get your own legal shit sorted if you want to do stuff. Appoint a legal observer amongst your affinity group, sort out lawyer phone numbers and know your rights beforehand.

anon


More needed

12.04.2009 23:44

The work done by LDMG and by the CC Legal Team is not exactly the same, though both include legal observers during actions.

What April 1st proved to me is that more of us need to get trained (or refreshed) to be legal observers on the day and, perhaps even more important, to do the shitwork which arises afterwards. This ranges from straightforward and non-technical para-legal work such as taking statements from witnesses to arrestee/casualty support (contacting friends, safeguarding people's property, meeting people on release, arranging safe space and places to stay if needed etc.)

LDMG does excellent work, but it can't all be left to their scant resources. It looks as if that's what Meltdown did, though Climate Camp was better organised. By the time solicitors get involved, a great deal -such as witness details- is often irretrievably lost.

In future, three distinct but related jobs need to be thought through, recruited and trained for well in advance: Legal observers, legal support, and arrestee/casualty support. Legal observers need food and shift changes at least as often as the cops. Legal support ditto, and also a base nearby but safe, with relevant facilities to work from. Arrestee/casualty support needs safe, comfortable spaces, preferably not too near the action.

I left all these jobs to others on the day, so I'm slagging myself off as much as anyone else. Better next time?

Stroppyoldgit


get involved

13.04.2009 08:56

LDMG had 4 or 5 teams of 2 or 3 people !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that means at most 15 people were willing to do this vital job. could have been as few as 8 people from these figures.

if you want legal support on big demos you kids are going to have to start doing it!

LDMG needs more volunteers. simple as that. no more moaning, just sign up next time.

how many of you wrote down your memories before having a pint/spliff/sleep that evening?

how many wrote down cop numbers when you witnessed others getting hurt/arrested?

how many of you have made sure you know what laws are being applied when and that you fully understand them?

how many of you have bothered to check out where and when are the court cases, and offered to get down there to provide support?

made the f@cking effort people!

legal monitoring doesn't just happen by magic. neither does the ongoing support after the event.

justme


Climate Camp legal observers had an MP as a volunteer?!

13.04.2009 10:44

that just says it all.

You lot trust an MP with something that sensitive?!

co-option by the establishment?!