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March 26th: Tactical Briefing: Cops, Anarchists, Flashpoints

Freedom newspaers useful guide to official preparations for March 26th ant-cuts demo

The Cops
On 10th November the cops had 18 PSU’s. On 9th December they had 81. We expect a “maximum effort” from the Met police on this one. That means all the TSG – 25 serials and at least half of London’s level 2 trained police on duty. They’ve asked for mutual aid so we should see a variety of southern counties forces on show as well as the City police and British Transport police (BTP).

If other big events are anything to go by they will plaster the streets with yellow hi-vis level 3s. So 650 level 1, 1000-1500 level 2, 3000+ level 3 trained cops. Horses are likely to be out in force, at least four serials (weirdly it’s 14 each for the nags) were out on Dec 9th which may be close to the practical limit as the Met has 120 ponies in total.

In a change to the previously announced line up Commander Simon Bray head of Westminster Borough BCU will be Gold and Chief Superintendent Adrian Roberts from Croydon, Silver. Commander Bob Broadhurst will now be Media Spokesperson. Chief Superintendent Ian Terry who has recently taken over from Ian Thomas as head of CO11 or Mick Johnson, still Chief at CO20, will probably be “Bronze Reserves”. Prizes will be given for id’ing other Bronzes. We predict starring roles for David “summer of rage” Hartshorn and Julia “climate camp” Pendry. Chief Superintendent Alex Robertson should head up the City Police contingent.

The size of the demo makes an all out attack on protesters along the lines of 9th December unlikely but the pendulum has swung very much back to ‘robust’ policing two years after Ian Tomlinson’s death. Doubtless the cops are cross about the cuts too but will be quite prepared to take it out on us so the Bronzes will have to work hard to keep them on the leash. Terry may well chose to act quickly against the “known troublemakers” before they can reach targets or join the rest of the march.

The TUC
Having invited Stop The War to give them advice on how to organise a big demo they rejected their ideas point blank. It doesn’t help that the march organiser has only been in post a couple of months. Given the size, say 500,000 there’s likely to be logistical meltdown. Route Stewards are in orange bibs with senior stewards in pink. Route stewards have been told to do nothing except try to keep people moving and report trouble to the Pinks. The Pinks will be working closely with the cops. As for Hyde Park the TUC have hired private security to guard the stage and save Ed Milliband just in case anyone remembers what the last Labour Government did. Anyone in need of a laugh can do worse than read the TUC 10 tips for enjoying the march.

Law
Section 44 is back as section 47A. Ignore it. The cops will be using section 60 for searching without reasonable suspicion. 60% of arrestees on the student demos last year were unknown to the police so the temptation for data mining is high. We don’t know if they will try gathering names for anti-social behaviour under section 50 but if anyone fancies being a test case.. “don’t tell him Pike!”

Liberty
Shami’s sellouts have decided to play at legal observing again. They last did this in London on the 2003 George Bush visit. Then they helpfully wore yellow hi-vis the same as the cops so folk could tell they worked with the fuzz and didn’t bother with bust cards (Christ knows what bollocks they might put on one). This time they will be in green bibs. They will be working with the cops and have a someone at GT. Green and Black Cross/ Legal Defence and Monitoring Group will have a joint team of 50+ legal observers in orange bibs. They are not working with the cops – don’t hit them. There will also be a team of action medics to whom the same applies.

Where’s the action?
The main march is on the standard route Embankment to Hyde Park. The cops will want to keep one side of the road clear for vehicles so it will be fucking slow. Aside standard flashpoints at Parliament and Downing St look for breakaways and short cutters especially going up through Mayfair towards Oxford St.

Of the feeder marches Malet St is the bookies favourite to kick off. The militant workers bloc (ULU meeting point) aims to occupy Oxford St at 2pm. Sound systems are promised and the slogan “avoid the kettle” used. UK uncut are also aiming for Oxford St. Oxford Circus may be out to recapture the record for longest kettle (7 hours 30 mins for Mayday 2001) from Whitehall’s 24th November effort of 9 hours.

The south London march starts at Kennington Park just like the Poll Tax demo of 1990. The key is which bridge it heads for. Further east is likely to be more interesting with Westminster and Waterloo making the cops life far harder than Lambeth or Vauxhall.

Weather: The Met Office (no not the pigs) says “Saturday looks like being rather cloudy with a little rain or drizzle, mainly in the east”

ACRONYMS of the STATE:

PSU
Police Support Unit. A unit of coppers who have undergone public order training. A unit consists of one inspector, three sergeants and 18 constables. Instantly recognisable as being able to hold a baton above their heads, extend an arm and shout ‘get back’ all at the same time. TSG are full time PSUs.

TSG
Territorial Support Group. Riot police. Scum in uniform. Never held to account for their actions. They get away with murder on demonstrations. Literally. TSG thugs are recognisable by the prefix U on their shoulder number coding.

There is a three level grading system of police public order training.

Level 1- The Riot Squad
Most experienced in public order training and are usually full time PSUs. Receive regular training every five weeks on all aspects of public order situations.

Level 2- The Scuffle Squad
Level 2 same kind of training as Level 1 coppers but only receive two days public order training twice a year. Generally clueless and unpredictable when things get volatile, which makes them particularly dangerous

Level 3- The Plod Squad
All coppers are considered level 3 trained as part of their normal police training. They are not allowed to use shields, helmets under health and safety rules.

BCU
Basic Command Unit. Over glorified militaristic term used for a police area. The place where coppers have their tea and biscuits basically.

CO are the various Central Operations specialised units of the London Met police

CO11
Public Order Operational Command Unit (which includes the incompetent and financially draining Forward Intelligence Teams (FIT)).

CO20
Territorial Support Group. TSG. Thick and Stupid Group. The Spice Girls.

GT
Metropolitan Police Special Operations Room, where all the available, and functioning, cctv cameras are linked up to and monitored from a central location. Usually where the Gold Commander can be found. GT is its call sign.

TUC
Trades Union Congress (or Tories Unofficial Cops depending where you stand). A federation of 58 affiliated trade unions that employs full time bureaucrats with little or no connection to the labour movement. Brendan Barber the current general secretary, for example, joined the TUC in 1975 having spent precisely one year in a real job. TUC has a particularly poor record of standing up to Tory governments.

Section 44
A stop and search power under the Terrorism Act. Previously used against people on demonstrations which has been completely discredited in the European courts, who ruled it unlawful.

Section 60
A stop and search power under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. When a S60 order is in place a copper can only “stop any pedestrian and search him or anything carried by him for offensive weapons or dangerous instruments”. They do not need reasonable suspicion to carry out the search but you are NOT required to give any details (name address, what you were doing, where you were going etc) as part of the search. When asked for your details simply say no.

Section 50
An obscure law under the Police Reform Act 2002. It allows the police to ask for your name and address if they reasonably believe you to be engaged in “anti-social behaviour”. Refusal to give details under these circumstances may be an offence. See the our guide to when you have to give your name and address – here

March 26th Convergence space: