no dissent tolerated at royal wedding

rikkiindymedia(At)gmail[dot]com (rikki) , 30.04.2011 19:22

assistant commissioner lynne owens admitted she would be using terrorist powers to police protest at the royal wedding, and told the home affairs committee that "the application of the human rights act might be different for the royal wedding". police acted true to her word, human rights were suspended, we were all very clearly subjects and not citizens, and no doubt loads of taxpayers money will be found to pay the inevitable compensation payments to those unlawfully detained.

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after the pre-emptive arrests the previous morning of chris knight and others, the 'zombie wedding' gathering in soho square yesterday was a sorry affair. as the planned 10 foot high mock guillotine had been nicked by the police, there were just a dozen or so 'vanguards of the revolution' singing songs, chanting, and handing out vegan chocolate cake to the massed press and police.

with the press having interviewed everybody, and photographers looking bored, a game of 'spot the undercover cop' ensued, and it actually turned into quite a long game, given the number of hoodies and workmen sitting around the square and standing next to a van on the street.

there is an urban myth that if you ask an undercover if they are a cop, they have to tell you the truth. an anarchist dressed as king george with a colander on his head asked one of the hooded cops (with lovely white trainers) whether they were a cop and he replied 'no'. unfortunately his cover was blown by the police notebook sticking out of his back pocket, and by the fact that when one of the undercovers, a balding man with a large tattoo on his arm, shouted 'bubble', they all sprang into action, surrounded an anarchist who was singing 'we all live in a fascist regime' and bundled him away.

there were actually more undercover cops than anarchists in the square that morning, so when four zombies wandered up to oxford street, they stood no chance, sparking a mass of police sirens as riot police vans dashed to the scene and about thirty police surrounded them, later arresting them "to prevent a breach of the peace".

so, it seems, lynne owens was right, and on the day of a royal wedding, 'street theatre' and 'dressing up in costumes and make-up' are not protected by the human rights act, let alone actually protesting about anything.

in response to the squat arrests, a solidarity protest had been called outside paddington green police station, and i went up there at the appointed time to find four forlorn anarchists wondering where everyone else was. after wandering around with their banner for a bit, they gave up and left, although i heard that some more people turned up later.

back at soho square, the planned 'queer resistance' demo had been stymied by police, who arrested several of them, and warned the others that if they entered the square again they would also be arrested "in order to prevent a breach of the peace". four of them did manage to do a little walk about round soho with their lovely pink banner.

down whitehall, there was no sign of any democracy, just lines and lines of white-gloved police checking the crowds of loyal subjects (mostly tourists actually) as they milled around after the great event.

losing no time to restore normal service, the GLA fences were already being re-erected around parliament square, due, according to the blatantly disingenuous notices, 'to urgent health, safety and maintenance works'. these 'works' have been going on for 9 months now, spoiling the public's enjoyment of the square far more effectively than last year's democracy village ever did. however, there is one raised area, behind the churchill statue, that is now unfenced - dare i say a perfect spot for a people's assembly or a peaceful occupation?

finally, i visited the 'republic' picnic in red lion square, where apart from the occasional revolutionary conversation, and the lack of nationalist bunting, it was hard to discern much difference between this and all the other street parties throught the kingdom.

with the sun going down, there was still no news, after 36 hours of detention, of when the nation's 'public nuisance' makers would finally be released from detention. fat compensation cheques all round methinks. now lillibet, can we have our human rights back please?

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