Report from Bristol student demo
gran | 30.11.2010 19:22 | Public sector cuts
The crowd left the square on time. It was the first pleasant culture shock in a fun packed day. I wasn't able to make last week, so wasn't sure what to expect. Neither did most of the kids on the street it seemed. No one knew what the plan was, most hadn't been on a demo before last week, and all of them were buzzing with it.
I attached myself to a bunch of a dozen or so who were moving purposefully in a 'where we think the others are' direction. Proudly displaying their terribly postmodern placard (Legalise Weed- as they said, got a lot of smiles, and it did have Cameron cuts stuff on the back). After banter about how you say 'fuck the police' in Spanish, it became apparent that most of these people had never met each other before either, but were well up for grinning at the shoppers we passed as we went through Broadmead. Around us we saw other tributaries, then suddenly, there was main event. A rapidly moving river of cardboard signs, people who'd made a gesture towards wearing black, and a lot of students and school kids.
From there on in it was basically a march. But not like any I've experienced. It was of course entirely unnegotiated with the cops- who intermittently made attempts to kettle it, and it was big, upwards of a thousand I'd guess, with people joining on as the day went through.
But the significant thing about it was it's speed. It moved fast and with impressive sense of purpose from one target to the next, holding a space long enough to let others catch up or join if they wanted to, moving on before the police could assess and kettle. It took roads, but parted smoothly for ambulances twice, before reforming to stop other traffic. And it got around a bit.
One of my favorite moments was having a conversation with one of the cordon line about what legislation they were holding us under etc, to see a not insubstantial crowd come up behind him- "seriously mate, turn round", the line disintegrated, and we moved back into the center of town. Right to the belly of the beast, to the entrance of Calbot Circus. Not the sort of venue designed for easy use of riot horses. Access to some of the most spectacular local examples of capitalist excess was corked off for 20 minutes or more, before moving on to Vodeaphone.
There was a standoff at the door, with staff behind the double glass swing doors clearly freaked, and the crowd trying to push its way in. Thing was, although the lads at the front were up for it, they knew the staff on the other side weren't the enemy. We were just turning round to block the flow of Vodaphones cash from the outside, when a bunch of cops waded in, and forced everyone back (by about 5 foot). There was about a one minute food fight, where some squirty sauce and a pineapple top were deployed, but then the crowd moved off again. As we were moving away the shutters were coming down. On the inside of the glass I think.
Apart from the cops that waded in outside vodeaphone, who tasted a lot more like the Met, and the mounted cops, who are trained to be shits, the police were markedly more sane and human than I'm used to encountering.
And the crowd had way more energy- we went round the mall, and up the hill, and down the hill, , and round the mall and up the hill, and, well, you get the picture. A lot of vehicles were stuck in the resulting traffic, but when a posse of very over excited 15 year olds approached them in turn and asked them to honk most did, and every honk was answered with riotous cheering. A lot of passing traffic honked spontaneous support anyway. At one particularly fine point a woman had wound down her window and was being high fived by a every person who passed nearest to her.
The final cordon moved in relatively quickly outside the uni. A bunch of schoolgirls, about 13 years old I'd guess, had done a brilliant bit of public order work- spreading across a road the police were trying to put a line on. They were cheerfully chanting 'fuck the police'. I heard as I was leaving that 5 or 6 young girls had been arrested. Don't know if it was them. The van drivers and mounted cops were getting sketchy, the use of the horses from the middle of a crowd is always a recipe for messiness, though I didn't hear of any injuries at that stage. They were letting water and biscuits in and there were ways out for people not too worried to look for them. The vibe seemed slightly shaken but still upbeat.
Latter reports confirm that there were a lot more arrests, and a solidarity demo is currently going on outside Trinity cop shop until they're released.
The biggest theme for the day, banner wise, was Hogwarts. It made me feel very old. But also more hopeful than I have in a long time. Todays protest sustained a massive amount of disruption. those with limited experience got used to evading the authorities, and people seemed to listen to each other, to reach out, have a laugh, and generally start reseeding community in places that have been sterile far too long. If this is just the beginning, and it feels like it, then 2011 is going to be an interesting year.
From there on in it was basically a march. But not like any I've experienced. It was of course entirely unnegotiated with the cops- who intermittently made attempts to kettle it, and it was big, upwards of a thousand I'd guess, with people joining on as the day went through.
But the significant thing about it was it's speed. It moved fast and with impressive sense of purpose from one target to the next, holding a space long enough to let others catch up or join if they wanted to, moving on before the police could assess and kettle. It took roads, but parted smoothly for ambulances twice, before reforming to stop other traffic. And it got around a bit.
One of my favorite moments was having a conversation with one of the cordon line about what legislation they were holding us under etc, to see a not insubstantial crowd come up behind him- "seriously mate, turn round", the line disintegrated, and we moved back into the center of town. Right to the belly of the beast, to the entrance of Calbot Circus. Not the sort of venue designed for easy use of riot horses. Access to some of the most spectacular local examples of capitalist excess was corked off for 20 minutes or more, before moving on to Vodeaphone.
There was a standoff at the door, with staff behind the double glass swing doors clearly freaked, and the crowd trying to push its way in. Thing was, although the lads at the front were up for it, they knew the staff on the other side weren't the enemy. We were just turning round to block the flow of Vodaphones cash from the outside, when a bunch of cops waded in, and forced everyone back (by about 5 foot). There was about a one minute food fight, where some squirty sauce and a pineapple top were deployed, but then the crowd moved off again. As we were moving away the shutters were coming down. On the inside of the glass I think.
Apart from the cops that waded in outside vodeaphone, who tasted a lot more like the Met, and the mounted cops, who are trained to be shits, the police were markedly more sane and human than I'm used to encountering.
And the crowd had way more energy- we went round the mall, and up the hill, and down the hill, , and round the mall and up the hill, and, well, you get the picture. A lot of vehicles were stuck in the resulting traffic, but when a posse of very over excited 15 year olds approached them in turn and asked them to honk most did, and every honk was answered with riotous cheering. A lot of passing traffic honked spontaneous support anyway. At one particularly fine point a woman had wound down her window and was being high fived by a every person who passed nearest to her.
The final cordon moved in relatively quickly outside the uni. A bunch of schoolgirls, about 13 years old I'd guess, had done a brilliant bit of public order work- spreading across a road the police were trying to put a line on. They were cheerfully chanting 'fuck the police'. I heard as I was leaving that 5 or 6 young girls had been arrested. Don't know if it was them. The van drivers and mounted cops were getting sketchy, the use of the horses from the middle of a crowd is always a recipe for messiness, though I didn't hear of any injuries at that stage. They were letting water and biscuits in and there were ways out for people not too worried to look for them. The vibe seemed slightly shaken but still upbeat.
Latter reports confirm that there were a lot more arrests, and a solidarity demo is currently going on outside Trinity cop shop until they're released.
The biggest theme for the day, banner wise, was Hogwarts. It made me feel very old. But also more hopeful than I have in a long time. Todays protest sustained a massive amount of disruption. those with limited experience got used to evading the authorities, and people seemed to listen to each other, to reach out, have a laugh, and generally start reseeding community in places that have been sterile far too long. If this is just the beginning, and it feels like it, then 2011 is going to be an interesting year.
gran