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Sometimes to lose is in fact to WIN

skywarrior | 25.11.2010 09:38 | Education | Repression | Social Struggles

Lets change tactics

I spent most of yesterday with my girlfirend in a police kettle, held against my will. I watched young people being brutalised by the police. Some being beaten while they were on the ground. hit many times over by these thugs they call the TSG.

During this time I and many others had to sustain abuse from officers of the law. Many of them with smug looks on their faces, taunting young people about the cold and the fact they couldn't use toilets. Despite the lies in the media about water and toilets being provided this was an outright fabrication.

This clearly from the start was the police revenge for Millbank. It was clear to me when they employed the services of the G20 commander that this was going to be brutal and so it proved to be. We only have to remind ourselves of the senseless manslaughter of Ian Tomlinson to fully understand what these thugs are capable of in kettle situations.

1000s of young and old people alike left that kettle last night while a deep sense of anger. Lets cultivate that anger. What happened yesterday was an attempt to break the spirit of our future. Lets not allow them to break us. I was encouraged when I left the police cordon last night at around 7pm t, when I witnessed the sound system blasting out Killing in the Name of by Rage Against the Machine. To hear hundreds of protesters singing the lyrics and pointing at the police

Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me

Pure heaven, lets mobilise organise and occupy. Lets bring this message to the offices of the LibDems. Lets up the game. In the words of the Zapatisa YA BASTA enough is enough


 http://tinyurl.com/2utzgme LiB DEM Offices London
lib dem constituency offices london

 http://www.libdems.org.uk/mps.aspx list of LibDem MPs.

skywarrior

Comments

Hide the following 8 comments

How To Break Out of a Kettle

25.11.2010 10:53

We need to start working on ways of breaking free of Police kettles. It is becoming obvious that they are the top tactic for the Police in protest situations. We need to look at the tactics used by Police to break OUR lines and snatch people from crowds. If we employ similar tactics and organization we might be able to break free!

Protester


bodybloc

25.11.2010 11:26

I totally agree with you on that. Maybe some experienced protesters can start offering training to these students. They are young and inexperiened. Many of them were scared and intimidated. Body Bloc is a great publication offring advice on how to deal with these situations.  http://www.devo.com/sarin/shieldbook.pdf

skywarrior


Good Post - Thanks!

25.11.2010 12:03

Would also like to say that a good pair of boots are well worth having for warmth, protection and self-defence if necessary. See you out there!

Klamber


how about

25.11.2010 12:45

mob attacks on banks and political party offices around the country, at night or in the day, a few people or a lot. even one or two people can start their own project of resistance.

spontaneous demos, spraypaint slogans, and of course - Occupations!!

@


Guide to dealing with Public Order Situations

25.11.2010 12:53

See the website
 http://www.schnews.org.uk/diyguide/guidetopublicordersituations.htm

For how do deal with kettling. A number of gatherings have in the past offered training for people as well.

FTP


How kettles get broken

25.11.2010 14:06

In my (fairly considerable) experience of police kettles, the only time i've seen them broken (bar a couple of rare exceptions) at protests, is when two things happen:

1) the response is quick, usually withing a couple of minutes - before more police arrive to firm up the lines and before those inside loose energy OR the protester:police ratio is so much in our favour that not many additional officers can arrive.

2) support comes from a determined group outside the kettle.


The basic tactic is eiter to 'kettle the kettle' or since those sorts of numbers are hard to get, to surround a small part of it. Once you have a police line surrounded by angry people on the inside, and your angry friends on the outside, they start to get pretty worried. At that point it only takes a slight break and they will generally either withdraw or willingly release those inside the kettle so that they themselves arn't trapped either.


As for the exceptions to the above, its only when there are A LOT of VERY angry demonstrators (ie at the G20), or when you have 400 drunk football holligans penned in by about 50 police (see every EDL march ever).

In summation: it's all about solidarity. If there arn't enough of you to try a break out form a noisy protest and hope that more people are attracted to it, once you have the numbers go for it!

Kitcen appliance expert


most up to date Guide to...

25.11.2010 17:24

The most up-to-date version of the Guide to Public Order Situations is always at:
 https://earthfirst.org.uk/publicorderguide.htm and
 https://earthfirst.org.uk/publicorderguide.pdf

If you've got comments, send them in to the address in it.

Copy, print, distribute, and let's do what we want to - which isn't standing around in the cold!!

See you on the streets

EF!er


Why get kettled?

25.11.2010 18:54

I can understand why a first time protestor might find themselves in a police kettle but its seldom that anyone has a good excuse for getting kettled a second time. Police move very slowly and most people could be several hundred yards away before the trap closes. It only needs a moderate level of alertness to detect danger situations. Im always astonished to see a experienced activist wandering into an obvious kettle set up and come to the conclusion that some people inexplicably like being caught in this way. I think its a good idea to remember that there are people like this around and not to blindly follow my leader.

Veteran