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Mayday! Mayday!

IMC UK Features | 07.05.2009 12:28 | Smash EDO | Anti-militarism | Iraq | Palestine | South Coast

Brighton's Mayday! Mayday! street party saw 2,000 people from all over the country gathered to protest against capitalism, war and the arms trade. It was called by Smash EDO, the movement that has been campaigning against the EDO MBM/ITT bomb component factory in Brighton for the last 5 years.

Dispatch: Indymedia - Timeline | Last Hours - Timeline

On the newswire: Mayday Mayday, Smashing EDO in pictures | Anti-War Clashes With Police | FIT shut Down in Brighton | Pics of Cops at Mayday | Businesses linked to ITT redecorated | HSBC Smashed | Photos | Video of the Day | Photos of FIT and EGT at Mayday | More Pics | Pictures and Video | Last Hours Pics | NETCU Watch Critique of the Day | Smash EDO claim Brighton demo a success (pressrelease)

Previous Features: Shut ITT - October 2008 | Carnival Against the Arms Trade - June 2008 | Freedom to Protest - June 2008

Mounted police outside McDonalds
Mounted police outside McDonalds


The day before the Mayday demo saw FIT monitoring the front and back entrances of the Cowley Club in Brighton, where ananti-militarist conference was taking place, as well as paying regular visits to the Mayday convergence centre down the road. FIT, however, having suffered from adverse press and criticism from local MPs after they monitored the Earth First gathering and the Shut ITT mobilisation, did not bring their cameras and limited themselves to taking notes on who went in and out of the club.

The morning of May 4th saw the expected strong police presence both outside the Cowley Club and convergence centre as well as at protest targets in Brighton town centre. Targets had been published on Indymedia in the form of an Anti-Militarist map of Brighton. A division of mounted police parked up on the seafront and gave their horses some exercise and sea air. Smash EDO Radio began broadcasting at 10.30am with the meeting point still unknown, entertaining listeners with spoof ads for EDO MBM/ITT's latest state-of-the art killing tools. At 11am cyclists started to gather at Brighton station and half an hour later the 50-strong critical mass bike ride with two sound systems headed for the sea accompanied by two police horses, Evidence Gathering camera teams and a number of vans.

Around 11.45 Smash EDO Radio announced the meeting point was to be the Aquarium roundabout opposite Brighton Pier, which the critical mass reached at 12 noon, when cyclists started circling the roundabout. Crowds started to gather at the entrance to the pier and a sound system was brought onto the roundabout to join the cyclists, as people started dancing on the, by then, blocked off roundabout. The FIT (Forward Intelligence Team) made their way onto the roundabout but were driven off as more protesters arrived and the police didn't attempt to prevent the roundabout being taken.

Around 12.45 the crowd, now numbering over 500, moved off towards Brighton town centre fronted by a line of mounted police. At Barclays Bank on North Street scaffolding was scaled and a banner reading 'No Arms Dealers in Our Communities” unfurled - Barclays is the largest single investor in ITT with over 4 million shares. As police moved in to seize the climbers the crowd created a space for them to descend safely. A paint bomb also hit Barclays. There was a carnival atmosphere with a dragon winding through the crowd, people in red fancy dress, as well as a padded block and reinforced banners at the front.

The crowd stopped outside the Army Recruitment Centre on Queens Rd, which was redecorated with spray paint and red paint. Again police who moved in to make arrests were repelled. FIT and EG teams were constantly hampered as they tried to film and take photos. A CCTV van was spray painted at the station and the crowd, which had swelled to well over 1,000, headed down Trafalgar Street. Once on London Road attention was focussed on McDonalds, although the cans thrown were ineffective against the plate glass. As police cleared the pavement outside McDonalds a flare was set off under a police van, which was then rocked on its axles.

With the police having blocked off London Rd the crowd went down a side street and up the hill away from the centre with the police outmanoeuvered. Mounted police managed to get in front of the march on Ditchling Rd but by the time the police had blocked off this road the march had headed off through a residential area back to the London Rd and into Preston Park. A heavy police presence was deployed outside RBS opposite the park.

At 2.30, some stopped to party in the park whilst others headed up Preston Drove and through residential areas back towards the town centre. The first arrest came with somone seized for 'assault' as the police, despite their large numbers, failed to contain the more dispersed groups and became increasingly aggressive, resorting at one point to baton-charging the reduced crowd. The crowd continued to evade police attempts to kettle them in and even managed to kettle the police at one point on Traflagar Street. The crowd split into two as one part headed for the sea with the other settling on the green outside St Peters Church on London Rd. After a rest this part started off for the seafront as the crowd joined again briefly with the police in hot pursuit. A cat-and-mouse chase through the Pavilion Gardens and historic Lanes part of the town ensued as bemused daytrippers and tourists looked on. The police lashed out with one woman collapsing after being batoned in the kidneys and another being knocked off her bike. Many peoples' legs were batoned.

At least 30 protesters suffered injuries, most minor with a few requiring visits to A & E. Police horses were put in harms way by police officers and they may have sustained some injuries.

That evening windows were smashed at RBS and HSBC, shareholders in ITT< and Shell was targeted in solidarity with the struggle against shell in Rossport.

IMC UK Features

Comments

Hide the following 18 comments

a few of my own points

07.05.2009 19:02

- Nas anything changed? No
- Did the authorities have all the dregs of society in one place to be took away for processing? No
- Are labour going to continue to appease these people? Yes
- Is the taxpayer getting value for money? No
- Do these people have hobbies and interests outside of protesting? No
- It the whole effort pointless as a result? Yes

There only one thing behind the protests: Bad sportsmanship. A ruthless minority of people seems to have forgotton certain good old fashion virtue - they just can't stand seeing the other fella win. If these people just played the game they would get a lot more out of life.

I understand people's concern over the policing - the taxpayer always wants value for money. Thats why they should always insist on the principle of information retrievable charging. Its absolutely right and fair that those found guilty should pay for their periods of detention and the information retrieval procedures used in their interrogation.

harold tabloid


Harold

07.05.2009 19:33

So, being angry that a company can supply the means to murder civilians is "bad sportsmanship"?

So, I guess people getting upset at paedophiles are just "losers"???

What a pathetic argument.

Jonathan Aitken


@ Harold

07.05.2009 21:48

"Do these people have hobbies and interests outside of protesting? No "

Thanks for enlightening me Harold. Until your pointless post I didn't realise that having opinions about right and wrong, ie is it right to profit out of the death of innocent people was a 'hobby/interest'. Way back when my grandad was a young boy they used to call those hobbies 'principles'.

Yes people who protest about capitalism, green issues, animal rights issues, anti-war issues and a ny number os ethical issues may attend a number of these protests, regardless of the underlying issue, but thats because they give a sh1t about what happens on this planet. They don't sit at home, read the mainstream media and think that protestors are soap dodging scroungers. Fuck you and your like!

SparkyTheClown


Smash Capitalism!

08.05.2009 08:39

Good stuff! Keep the cops on the run, wear them down, avoid being penned in, display some militancy on a day of international workers solidarity instead of resigning to be penned in for eight hours! We should have had this sort of manouvering at G-20 in London! Next time maybe!

KC


Information Retrieval

08.05.2009 09:39

Anyone thinking of debating with harold might like to try a quick google search first:

 http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22absolutely+right+and+fair+that+those+found+guilty%22

Terry


the real motivation?

08.05.2009 19:36

Is this protest actual about EDO ?

The reason i ask is it is mentioned in the main body of the article....lets see....just ONCE
Whereas the police are mentioned TWENTY-ONE times.

They additional photos link is just purely about the police as well, no mention of EDO

I suspect most of the protestors are actually going there to satisify their pack rivalry instints of tribal opposition rather than actually giving a shit about EDO which is pretty distasteful, considering when they are called up on it all a sudden backlash of "Think of the dead babies."

a real protestor


ru4real?

08.05.2009 20:56

I'm really confused by the internet entity who labels him/herself "real protestor". Obviously you have no real knowledge of the EDO campaign or you would know that the cops have been involved in a very real way in trying to crush the EDO protests for many years and have proved real friends to the corporate murdering scum at EDO/ITT. There is, you may find, a rather direct and real link between the weapons profiteers/capitalist system and the forces of "law and order" paid to keep them safe from real protesters (not troll wankers like you). So get real. Etc etc.

real protester


thanks

08.05.2009 21:13

so just to clarify, what you are saying is it has changed from protesting about EDO to having nothing to do with EDO apart from a token mention, but everything to do with the confronting the police then? brilliant - thanks for confirming that

a real protestor


Really, really .....

08.05.2009 22:27

I suppose you can call me a troll wanker as well but I was at the event and there
wasnt much focus on EDO. The banner drop was about all there was. The spray
painting of the CCTV van and the recuiting office was just squiggles, meaningless.
Bear in mind that a map had been issued showing a number of premises where
organisations supporting the arms trade are based. These should all have had
some sort of treatment.

The place that really got people going was McDonalds, always good for a kick
in passing but Jeez, I hoped we'd gone a bit further than that. Seems not.
I hope the organisers had fun running their radio station, but nobody I spoke
to had a radio so if there had been a plan, none of us knew about it.

Organisation, not good at all.

Really real protestor


keeping protestors out of trouble

09.05.2009 11:32

Its just the "Kansas City Shuffle" - They look right, you move left. Its the same with all these events. 99% of the protestors end up being distracted via their hatred for the police, they completely forget about their original objectives.

You have to admit it works a charm - the government arn't so stupid after all. Basically, lay on some sports entertainment for the protestors in the form of playing hide & seek with the police. This keeps them happy and therefore out of trouble, whilst you can get on with the serious business of making and selling weaponry.

minus


Mayday needs more positive coverage

09.05.2009 18:34

I agree that there is either too much emphasis on the cops and/or too little emphasis on the rest of the protest in this article. As someone who could not go to Mayday, I would have appreciated a bit more detail about the positive side, which is skimmed over in this article. I can't say I blame the non-protesters of the world for coming away from this thinking that the anarchist left is more interested in settling scores with the cops than it is in politics...and I worry what kind of people are going to be attracted to the movement by this image.

Alice
mail e-mail: a


@ real protester

09.05.2009 18:41

The cops have been involved in a "very real way" in trying to crush virtually all left-wing protest movements since Mayday 2000. Their behaviour at Mayday '09 doesn't sound any different than what countless people have witnessed at most large, peaceful demos. Police brutality is well worth putting it on the record, but for those of us who've seen this sh1t before it's a bit repetitious to read about here.

Alice


Strange

09.05.2009 20:13

All these "real activists" and none of them seem to have a clue. Do they usually protest against "immigration" and the fox hunting ban?

Fake Protester


A little troll

09.05.2009 20:46

Dear Mr Fake Protestor.

A bit pathetic accusing people posting here of being right wingers in
disguise when you have no real input of your own. What is this "clue"
that you have and we dont?

Too bloody real protestor


Outrage!

10.05.2009 07:47

I agree with the other fake protester. There is no effort being made to smear Smash EDO at every opportunity, and anyone who says so must be a troll, and it is perfectly normal for real fake activists to wear tweed and brandish rolled up copies of the Telegraph at "foreigners" and shout "British jobs for British workers!".

In fact, if there were more tweed wearing Tories in Smash EDO and activism in general the world would be a much better place (for arms dealers and their suppliers).

Now, please move along in an orderly fashion. Nothing to see here madam.

P.S. Do be aware that there are however some counterfeit real fake activists about guising as genuine fake activist, who are posting counterfeit genuine fake comments in an effort to score cheap points. They are quite easy to spot for the trained eye, as genuine fakes would never wear-double pleated slacks on a "protest march" and would rather die than wear brown shoes in town.

Keep it real daddios! Pass me the marijuana cigarette, please.

Even realer faker prostester


Who is Mystery Harold?

10.05.2009 14:23

So...Harold, you're taking the mick in a fairly ambigous way? You pretty much just reproduced a line from Brazil where a gov't official is justifying torture?

Hah, yeah...I just found "I understand this concern on behalf of the taxpayer. People want value for money. That's why we always insist on the principle of deer carcass retrieval charges. It's absolutely right and fair that those found guilty should pay for their period of detention and the deer carcass retrieval methods used in their interrogation." on some site.

So fair dos, I thought you actually meant it.

really fake (real) fake possibly pretend really real protestor


Brazil

15.05.2009 10:12

Lol, one of my favourite films, I wasn't fooled for a second ;)

sounds like it went well, I laughed particularly at the mention of the 'heavy police presence' at RBS. Presumption that one previous target will remain in focus, regardless of the contested issue.

It just shows the police have no idea *why* people are protesting....

doom monkey